


A Proclivity for Love

by TaintedBlossomOfWar



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, College, Confusion, Drama, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Heartbreak, High School, Hurt/Comfort, I actually love SasuSaku but you won't be able to tell by the end of this, Ino is single, Ino is the bestest best friend, Itachi was in a band, Love, Love Triangle, Main Character Death, Multi, Romance, SIKE, Sakura has a journal, Sakura is a goody goody, Sasuke Is an Asshole, Shikamaru is almost always there, Sibling Rivalry, Slice of Life, Slight Mental Abuse, Sweetness, Time Skips, Toxic Relationship, a dream journal, after college, as usual, but get ready for the good one ;), cuteness, falling in lvoe, fear of not being perfect, for now, he's a goofball, high school sweethearts, just asleep, kiba is so sweet in this, naruto is a ball of sunshine, not so good relationship, past Ino/Shika, sad sex, there's a song playlist if you are interested lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29553666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaintedBlossomOfWar/pseuds/TaintedBlossomOfWar
Summary: "Her hand was out the window, bobbing in the night wind. Her head laid back in her seat and the only thing on her mind was the feeling of simply being. The music from the radio playing loud, but she could still barely hear it over the sound of the wind and tires on the road. Rolling her head to the side, she looks into the driver's seat. A soft smile on her lips as she takes in the relaxed expression on his face. His dark brows completely evened out and one hand on the steering wheel, his onyx eyes focused on the road, while the other hand was on her thigh. Rolling her head to the other side, she stares out of the window and watches the beach fade into the choppy waves of the ocean. This was it, she was sure. This is the feeling she was longing for all of her life."
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Itachi, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 14
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been cross-posted on here, fanfiction.net, and then there is a different version of this with original characters instead of our favorite Narutards on Wattpad. That is why they may seem out of character at times.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters. I just own my ideas and story concept.

"Please, please don't do this to me.." She cried, tears flowing from emerald, her head bowed and a pink halo of hair surrounding her head. "I can't do this without you.." She hiccupped, a sob escaping.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Summer in Konoha was ending and it was ending fast. With the end of that came the beginning of the end of Sakura's journey in high school. While it wasn't too rambunctious or anything of the sort, Sakura did have one regret: a high school sweet-heart. She didn't get to experience that all encompassing adoration being shown in the school halls, being yelled at by teachers for showing pda, or even the awkwardness of a first kiss. A part of her longed for that feeling - for that experience.

Those thoughts penetrated her mind as her eyes bore outside of her window, over at the open water of the ocean. Sighing, she dares to look away for a second and to her journal on her desk.

'Sakura's Dream Book!'

She smiles softly. She definitely got to cross off some of those dreams, though she wasn't sure they were the ones that she found of importance now.

Knock, knock!

"Sakura! Hey, Sakura!"

Sakura sighs, looking over at her window where one of her best friends was waiting outside patiently, perched up on the old oak tree that was beside her bedroom window.

Making her way over to him, she scowls at him slightly. Why couldn't the blond just knock on the front door like a normal person? Opening the window, big and honest blue eyes stared into hers excitedly.

"Did you forget? We're going to the beach today!" He shouts, a grin on his face. Taking in his tan sleeveless top and neon orange swim-trunks, she could only smile good naturedly. She forgot how much he was looking forward to this.

"I didn't forget, you're just early," she says as she shakes her head. "Go back down the tree and I'll get ready." Sakura pauses before she turns away, giving him a serious and dangerous look. "And Naruto?"

He gulps slightly, knowing what she was probably going to say. "Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"Don't even think about peeking or you are dead meat." She smiles sweetly, flexing her knuckles slightly. Naruto nods quickly, repeating a mantra of "Of course, anything for you - not that I was going to peek because that would be creepy!" And other things of that sort.

Eventually he had made his way down and she could hear a few of her other friends yell "Watch it!" and "Don't fall, you idiot!"

She laughs softly before getting ready.

Her highschool life may not have been everything she had hoped or wanted, but at the very least she had gotten through it with some of the best people.

~ ` ~ ` ~

"Mom! I'm heading out with some friends, we're going to the beach!" Sakura shouts, opening the front door and not stepping out until she hears her mothers resounding "Okay, be careful!"

"It's about time, forehead," snarks her other best friend. Sakura's eyebrow twitches, but she ignores the pretty blonde's snarky remark anyway. "Are we all ready to go?" She asks, a smile on her face as she adjusts her bag. It isn't like the walk is very far, it's pretty much just across the street so if they did forget something, her house was just right there. Pretty convenient if she's honest.

As they start walking, Sakura can't help but notice that a little ways down the street there was a movers vehicle in front of a big house.

"Hey! Someones moving into old man Madara's house!" Shouted Naruto, apparently spotting the same thing that she did. "Yeah, I guess so," Sakura hums out. She wonders if they were family members of Madara's or if it was simply sold. He passed away about a year or so ago, so it has been vacant for awhile now. Whoever it was, she hoped that they enjoyed living there. It was a beautiful house, Sakura had to admit.

While she was gawking at the house, her other best friend, Ino, let out a squeal.

Plugging one ear with her finger, Sakura gives her a look. "What the hell, Ino-pig?"

"Oh, come on. You aren't telling me that that super perceptive eye of yours didn't notice the really cute guy over there?" Ino swoons, "I hope he's single." Sakura rolls her eyes, but decides to take a look at who she could only assume Ino is talking about. It was just her luck that when she did, he decided to look over in their direction as well.

Her heart pounds and her cheeks flush slightly when he smirks at her and winks. "Ino, oh my god.. He saw me look - I'm screwed!" Sakura whispers quickly, pointedly looking away. The blonde could only laugh at her friend's predicament. It was just like Sakura to be put in a situation like that.

"I don't understand what the big deal is," Naruto says with a confused look. "I mean, he's super pale and his hair looks like a duck's ass."

"Nice one, Naruto," Kiba snorts, high-fiving him.

Feeling pretty embarrassed, Sakura just quickly starts walking towards the beach again - to their usual spot. Ino gave one last look in the mysterious and handsome boys direction before following her. "Hey, wait up!"

The two boys were left to follow once they were done laughing.

"So, why couldn't Hinata come?" Sakura asks as she lays out her beach towel next to Ino's. The blonde sat down, digging through her bag while answering, "Her father said that they were having family coming into town. She probably won't be able to hang out with us for awhile, from the sound of it."

Sakura juts out her lip slightly, "That sucks. She's really good at keeping Naruto calm."

"Yeah, I know - but, hey," Ino grins, "You've got me. I'm sure we can handle these two morons on our own for awhile." Both teens laugh, stretching their legs out as they applied sunscreen.

Off in the distance, Sakura noticed Naruto and Kiba going ahead into the water with no hint of sunscreen at all. She shakes her head, willing herself to not think about the atrocious sunburn both boys would be sporting later on today.

"Can you believe we are going to be seniors this year?" Ino says off-handedly, moving her blonde bangs away and behind her ear. "I feel like it was just yesterday that we were in middle school fawning over the band Akatsuki."

Sakura nods in agreement, "I know. It's honestly crazy but.." She trails off, a troubled look on her face as she recalls her journal. "I feel like it all went too fast. I didn't cover nearly all of the bases that I wanted to."

"You mean from your journal?" Ino questioned, looking at Sakura in interest. "What was left unchecked? I'm pretty sure you made it your mission to have everything done and dealt with. I mean, you have been the top of our class and our student body leader practically every year."

Sakura's cheeks turn slightly red as she looks away from Ino, hurriedly standing up. "It's.. Just stupid stuff, you wouldn't understand!" She says quickly, trying to exit the question. She practically runs to the water, Ino following after her trying to protest the abrupt end to their conversation.

As soon as the cool water reached across her feet, Sakura let out a soft sigh. She slowly walks out deeper until she's about knee deep, letting her head fall back as she relishes in the feeling of the cool water. Sakura loves the ocean. It was her calm, it was her escape. She can't count how many times she came out here just to wade in the water whenever she was troubled.

Off in the distance, Sakura could see Naruto on his surfboard riding the waves. The guy was a total goofball, but she had to admit that he was one of the best surfers at their high school. He genuinely enjoyed it. It was the only thing (other than the lovely Hinata) that he would give 100% his focus.

"Hey, Forehead. You can't just take off like that," Ino shouts with a scowl on her face as she finished tying her long hair into a bun on top. "Why wouldn't I understand anyway? We've had many of the same experiences, I don't think there is much that I have done that you haven't."

"You would be surprised, but even so.." Sakura sticks out her tongue at her, "You will never know."

"Fine!" Ino pouts, "Be like that."

Sakura laughs, shaking her head and Ino joins in. She really was her best friend.

~ ` ~ ` ~

A few hours later, the four teens are all sprawled out on their beach towels laughing.

"I can't believe you wiped out just right after you were boasting about how you are the best," Kiba howls.

Naruto scowls, shaking his fist at Kiba in protest. "Hey! It happens - you wiped out way more than I did today, anyway dog-breath!" But even with the name calling, he too cracked a grin.

Sakura only watched with a fond smile on her lips. She looks up at the sky, noting that it would be dinner time soon.

"We should probably get going soon," She hums out. She lived just across the road, but she knew that Ino lived quite a walk away and she didn't want her walking in the dark. She knows that Naruto lives a block away from her and would walk her home if it did get dark, but Sakura would rather be safe than sorry.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm beat!" Ino yawns, covering her mouth in the process. Despite all of the sunscreen she plastered on, the blonde was still beyond burnt. Sakura could only imagine the horrified look on her friend's face when she looked in the mirror later.

"But, but-" Naruto pouts, hanging his head. "We've barely seen each other the last few days."

"Hey, Naruto, look at me." Sakura sighed, shaking her head fondly. "How about we all have a sleepover tomorrow night, okay? Then we can all spend plenty of time together."

He immediately perked up, but Kiba rubbed at his hair some in thought. "I wish I could, but Akamaru is going to the vet tomorrow. He's going to need me all night." Naruto gives him a disbelieving look but Kiba quickly waves his hands. "Don't give me that look! You know how much of a baby he is."

"Well, whatever the case may be.. I will be there and I'm sure Shikamaru and Ten Ten would be down to go, too. Ten Ten especially, she was really upset that she hasn't been able to spend so much time with us because of college and her job."

"Sounds like a plan, then." Sakura says, clapping her hands.

Heading towards the sidewalk, Sakura slings her bag over her shoulder. She's chatting away with Ino when she hears him.

"Hey."

Ino nudges her slightly, shutting the pinkette up for a moment and pointing in the direction of the voice. "Is he talking to me or you?" She asks, softly, before putting on a big and flirtatious smile.

"Hey yourself, I'm Ino," she introduces herself while holding out her hand.

The black eyes of the boy from down the street doesn't even spare Ino a glance, instead focusing on Sakura's own emerald orbs.

"I was hoping I'd catch you, I'm Sasuke." He introduces himself, giving her a small smirk and offering up his hand. Ino huffs but looks Sakura over and notices her red face. Sighing, she nudges her in the small of her back trying to get the pink haired teen back on track from her short circuit.

"I'm, uh, Sakura." She finally says, lamely, while holding out her hand. He takes it and she goes to shake, but instead he bows down and brings her knuckles up.. And he presses a small, light kiss.

Sakura could have fainted and Ino picked the worst time to pat her on the shoulder, "Well Saks, I'm gonna go ahead and head home. Text me, okay?" Before the blonde bounds off, waving cheerily.

Sakura retracts her hand, trying to regain focus, not even registering that her friend left her.

"Well," Sasuke pauses watching her face as he spoke, "I was hoping that I could maybe get your number and perhaps an agreement to meet me tomorrow?" Sakura couldn't believe her ears. For once, in her life, a cute guy was asking her and not Ino or hell, even her asking him.

"Uh, um.. Sure," she says as she pulls out her phone. She fumbles with it slightly nearly dropping it which draws a laugh from him as he effortlessly pulls his own phone from his pocket. She was starting to feel bad for all of the times Hinata has gotten nervous or messed up in front of Naruto or anyone, really. "Here," she says as she hands him her phone and his in return. They place their numbers in and once done, he gives her a cool smile.

"Alright then, I will talk to you later, Sa-ku-ra."

"R..Right," she says softly as she waves bye and he turns to leave. After he's long gone, she just stands there kind of dumbly. She couldn't believe that really happened but her mother opened the door to their house and shouted "Sakura, stop standing there like a dumbass and get inside!"

Snapping out of it, she immediately crosses the street to enter the house.

"Why were you just standing out there?" Her mother asks, shutting the door behind her. Sakura smiled sheepishly, tightening her hold on her bag.

"I was talking to someone and I was just lost in thought. No biggie, really."

"Talking to someone?" Her mother questions and Sakura nods, starting to head up the stairs.

"Yeah! But it was no one important, honest!"

Mrs. Haruno was unconvinced but let her go up the stairs. She was sure she would be able to get some information from Ino if needed.

Plopping down on her bed, her bag on the floor, she lets out a sigh. That really just happened. Pulling her phone up to her face, she notices that she has two messages. One from Ino and the other… from him.

Her face slightly pink, she opens up the one from her friend first.

From: Miss Piggy

Subject: Duckbutt

To: Billboard

Girl, you better tell me all of

the deets! Not a single bit of

information left out (6 p.m.)

Sakura snorts at the subject line. She figured that the comment Naruto made will not be forgotten anytime soon - especially since he was right, to a degree. Quickly, she writes out a response before opening the message from Sasuke.

From: Sasuke Uchiha

Subject: Meeting

To: Sakura

How about tomorrow at the ice

-cream parlor up the street at 1?

(6:10 p.m.)

Sakura thinks to herself quietly, trying to map out a time-line for tomorrow. She knows tomorrow that it is the sleepover which means most of them will be coming around 4 or 5, but she also knows that Ino likes to get a head start above everyone else which means she could pop in at any time.. This was tricky, but maybe she could time it just right. Besides, it's just for ice cream. It's not like they are going to be there for hours.

Quickly, she types out "Sure! Sounds great :)".

She deletes the smiley face a couple of times, but at some point she accidentally sent the message while it was on there. Innerly she cursed herself, but what could she do? It already sent.

"Honey?" Sakura's father knocks on the door, opening it up. He was finally home and Sakura couldn't help but smile as she stood up from her bed. "Dinner is ready, come eat."

"Coming!" Sakura says cheerily, meeting her father to walk down the stairs.

Her father worked in the oil field, so he was only home one or two weeks out of a month. So family dinners were precious to her heart. She just wished he was home more, but she understood why he chose that field. While it wasn't reliable, it paid pretty decently. It paid the bills and allowed them some luxuries. One of those being Sakura's growing college fund. It is because of this that Sakura felt a little more pressured to make sure she succeeded and did something worthwhile. She didn't want all of his hard earned money to go to waste.

She just hoped it wouldn't be for nothing.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Sakura knew what she was expecting to see when she woke up in the morning. The very same view that greets her every morning: her ceiling with her stars and solar system stickers. Instead, she got bright blue eyes staring her in her soul and a cage made from blonde hair. Accompanied by a headache, of course, because why would Ino do anything quietly?

"Get your lazy ass up, forehead!" Ino yells, hands on her hips as she pulls back from her face.

Sakura groans, rolling around onto her side and stuffing her pillow onto her head. "Go away."

Ino tsks and the only thing running through Sakura's head is shit. Ino grabs a hold of her foot and yanks as hard as she could, dumping Sakura on the floor by her bed. Sakura glares up at the blonde, scowling. She was having a good dream.

"Damn, it is never this hard to get you up. You're usually up before sunrise to watch it," Ino mumbles out. Sakura blushes, shaking her head. Ino didn't need to know that she stayed up practically all night with anxiety as an obnoxious bubble in her chest.

"Sorry," Sakura mumbles nonchalantly while her eyes look for her clock. Her eyes widen when she realizes it says 12 p.m. Hurriedly, she scrambles up, panic clear on her face.

"Woah there, what has got you so eager to get up all of a sudden?" Ino questions, eyebrow raised as she watches the pinkette hurry to her closet and pull out outfit after outfit. Then it clicked. "Oh. My. God!" She squeals before enveloping Sakura into a tight hug. "You're going to meet him aren't you?! That's why you were acting all weird last night when I was trying to see when I could come over!"

Sakura's face is bright red and she taps her arms to get her to let go. "Fine, yes. We are supposed to meet at the ice cream parlor at 1."

"Then there is no time to waste! Here, let me help!"

~ ` ~ ` ~

It took a matter of 30 minutes, but Sakura was well on her way down to the ice cream parlor. She didn't want to run because she could just hear Ino griping in her head about how her 'perfect' work would be absolutely ruined. Nervously, Sakura tucks a loose strand behind her ear. The parlor comes into view and she quickens her steps, grateful that she opted for simple sandals that fit her comfortably instead of Ino's bright idea which was heels. Her feet would be killing her, she is not like Ino who could dead-sprint in stilettos.

She could see him outside of the parlor, leaning against the wall. His eyes catch hers and her heartbeat quickens as her cheeks flush. Sakura stops in front of him and he gives her a small smile.

"Hey," he says and Sakura's genius murmurs a quiet, "Hi."

Sakura looks anywhere but him for the simple reason she felt very self conscious, but it all stopped momentarily when he offers her his hand and he leads her inside the parlor.

"What kind of icecream do you like?" He asks her as they approach the cashier to order. Sakura hums, thinking, and she smiles before answering: "chocolate as of right now."

Sasuke laughs quietly, "As of right now?" He questions and looks at her amusedly.

"It changes," she supplies before looking up at him, "How about yours?"

"Strawberry."

They didn't stay at the parlor long, instead they found themselves at the beach. They walked along the waves, Sakura's sandals in one hand and the other hand locked with his. The sunlight against their skin was refreshing and added to the warmth of the situation, the wind carrying her laughter as they talked.

"So.." Sakura trails off, her eyes slowly looking up towards his, "What brought you and your family here?"

"My great uncle left it to my brother Itachi in his will, but it's a big house and he wanted to share it with the rest of us." Sakura hums, watching the brief coldness flash in his eyes when he mentioned his brother. She didn't question it, this date… Was that what it was? This date was going well and she didn't want to ruin it by prying into his family life.

"I had no idea he had any relatives, if I'm honest," Sakura says thoughtfully and smiles. "But, I'm happy to find that he did. My friends and I made it a habit to drop gifts and say hi during holidays." Sakura rambles, leaving out the 'because he seemed so lonely' due to her not wanting to offend him.

"Yeah.. He wasn't much for big family gatherings."Sasuke shrugs and then looks down at her, taking in the way the sun brought out the many different shades of greens and spots of blue in her eyes.

"You have very pretty eyes."

She blushes, looking away. "Thank you," she says softly and can feel her chin being lifted up by him. His gaze was heavy and the world stopped around her, nothing but their breathing and her heart beating ferociously could be heard with the gentle lullaby of waves.

"Don't look away from me, Sa-ku-ra." His thumb gently rubs against her cheek and she half expects him to kiss her but instead, he drops his hand and re-takes her hand in his.

"Shall I walk you home?"

Her mind is blank and it takes a minute for what he said to process. A little bit of disappointment bubbles in her, a fear that maybe she said something wrong. "Oh, uh, sure," she says softly and she guides him to her home which is across the street.

Once they arrive, she lets go of his hand and fidgets, unsure of what to do now. Sighing, she looks down at her feet before slowly looking up at him. "Look, I'm sorry if I said something wrong-" Her words die on her tongue because he does something so unexpected and peculiar.

He poked her forehead with his index and middle finger, effectively catching her off guard.

"I had fun, Sa-ku-ra," he removes his fingers and Sakura watches, dumbfounded. "Let's do it again sometime."

"Okay," she replies and a pretty blush forms on her cheeks, she shyly watches him leave with a small smile on her face.

She turns around and briefly catches blue eyes peeking through the blinds of the living room window and she sighs, shaking her head. Of course she would get no privacy.

Stepping inside the house, she is greeted by her mother and Ino laughing obnoxiously on the couch. Not at all suspicious. Sakura places her hand on her hip, looking at them expectantly.

"Did you guys sate your curiosity looking outside the window?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," her mother states innocently before her expression turns devilish. "Buuuutttt, since you're here. Mind sharing the details?"

Sighing, Sakura gives in and decides to tell them about everything - with the exception of what happened near her front door. That, she had decided, would stay secret for her sake. Or as secret as it could, considering she was being watched the entire time they were out there.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Very soon, the rest of the gang piled into Sakura's living room floor. Naruto could be heard pestering Sakura's mom in the kitchen for just a "little bit more" icing on his chosen cupcake. The rest of them were all laughing at the movie on the screen. They were all a big fan of watching cringey movies together and tonight's choice was Jurassic Galaxy. The horrible CGI coupled with the laughably serious acting made the air in the living room filled with laughter and cries of disbelief that it was even released.

Sakura sighs out, resting her head on Ino's shoulder and closing her eyes. This was perfect, she had most of her closest companions with her and she would have it no other way. Though she planned for it, she wasn't quite ready for what the future would bring because she was a little scared that maybe the future for all of them wouldn't be together.

"You alright, girl?" Ten Ten asks, looking at her concerned. Sakura smiles at her and nods.

"Of course, I'm just a little worn out. I've been getting everything ready for school coming up and also making sure I have everything scheduled right so that way there won't be any setbacks. You know how I am," Sakura laughs and Ten Ten only shakes her head. She should have seen the gleam in Ino's eyes as a warning sign.

"She's leaving out the best part," Ino sings out and catches the attention of everyone but Shikamaru who was asleep.

"What is the best part?" Naruto comes in with a cupcake stuffed in his mouth and a tray of more cupcakes in his hands.

"The part about her date this morning~"

"Ino!" Sakura yells, brows furrowed as she moved to place a hand over her mouth.

"Wow, you actually found someone crazy enough to go with you somewhere? I'm surprised you didn't scare them off with your planner," mumbles Shikamaru as he sits up and rubs his eyes while simultaneously accepting a cupcake from Naruto. He would never pass up an opportunity to have Mrs. Haruno's amazing cupcakes.

"Don't be rude!" Ino yells and smacks him up on top of the head before settling her eyes on everyone else in the room. "Oh yeah! Our little control freak landed herself a date with the cute new guy down the street," Ino smirks while Sakura blushes.

"Down the street? You mean, the people who just moved into the old house?" Ten Ten gasps and then Sakura could just see the wheels turning in Naruto's head.

"..You didn't go out with the guy with Duck butt hair did you?" He asks, looking at her hopefully. Sakura only avoids eye contact and Naruto groans. "Sakura! He even looks like a douchebag, come on."

"Hey! You can't just assume things, Naruto," she yells before looking out of the window dreamily. "Besides, he was a complete gentleman the entire time."

"Yeah, yeah.. Whatever," Naruto grumbles. "Just let me know if he ever hurts you. Me and the boys will teach him a lesson," he snarks and pumps his muscles which only causes everyone else to groan and shake their head.

Though, that didn't mean that what Naruto said wasn't agreed upon whole-heartedly. They all have each other's backs and no one hurts one of their own.

~ ` ~ ` ~

The first day of school came up really fast, but Sakura figured it only felt that way because she spent the entire time on cloud nine.

If she wasn't at the beach with her friends then she was with him. Yes, him. Duck butt- Well, Sasuke.

Sakura had never felt happier and everyone around her could tell. So, when she got ready for school really fast and skipped out the front door with a chaste kiss to her fathers cheek as a goodbye, no one questioned it because they knew the reason was waiting on the other-side in his truck.

"Hey, princess," Sasuke greets her as she hops into his truck and places her school bag in the floorboard by her feet. She smiles and leans over, pressing a kiss to his cheek. They haven't kissed yet, but when it happened, Sakura knew that it would be special. She knew this from the bottom of her heart because everything with him felt special.

"Hey," she chirps. "Are you ready for your first day at the greatest high school ever?" She laughs out, completely ignoring the absolutely smitten look that he throws his way. It was hard to believe that he had just come into her life not that long ago because it felt like he had been there the entire time.

"Of course, I am," he says as he revs up the truck and starts driving. "I have the prettiest girl to show me around, why wouldn't I be?" Sakura blushes a pretty pink and shakes her head. He was just too sweet to her.

The trip to the school wasn't very long and the couple could spot Ino and Naruto with his arm around Hinata at the front gate. From the looks of it, Hinata seemed pretty upset and the two blondes were trying to comfort her. Immediately, concern forced its way into Sakura's heart.

As soon as the truck stopped, she was opening the door and hollering a "I'll be right back!" She completely missed the narrowing of Sasuke's eyes as she made her way over to her distraught friend.

"Hey," she soothes, coming over to rub circles into the black haired girls back. "What happened?" She asks softly. Sakura notes the redness around the other twos eyes as well and she knew instantly that this was bad.

"Neji," she sobs out and hiccups, burrowing her face into Sakura's shoulder. "He's.. He's.." She finally cries, "He's dead!" Sakura's heart stops. She wasn't always close to Neji but slowly over the years Hinata's stuck up cousin had found a place in Sakura's group when he was in town. She didn't know how to deal with this news and she didn't really know how or why Hinata was at school with this right now.

"Oh baby.." Sakura murmurs out and hugs Hinata closely as the other two join in. "It's okay.. I'm so sorry, so very sorry.. It'll be okay."

"I can't.. I can't believe they.." Hinata hiccups and Naruto shushes her, gently kissing her forehead.

"Ssh, take your time," he murmurs out in the softest voice Sakura had ever heard. She was surprised it even came from him but she knew that Hinata was his weakness and his biggest soft spot. "Do you need to go home? Mrs. Senju said that you can take as much time as you need to cope," Naruto whispers to her softly and she turns away from Sakura and nods into his chest. Sakura's heart breaks as she says her goodbyes and watches Naruto guide her to his car in hysterics.

"I can't believe it.." Sakura murmurs and Ino comes to wrap an arm around her.

"I know," she says softly. "He was found outside of his and Ten Tens new apartment that they were going to move into."

"Found?" Sakura chokes out and Ino nods sadly.

"He was murdered."

Sakura didn't have much more time to process that information before she felt someone pulling her away from Ino and wrapping her up into leather clad arms. She relaxes when she realizes that it was just Sasuke and was about to continue the conversation before he was pulling her towards the office.

"I need to get my schedule," he supplies when she raises an eyebrow.

"Oh.. I guess I'll see you at lunch then, Ino. We can talk later.. Text me if you need me!" Sakura shouts as she is pulled further towards the office. She misses the look of disbelief on her best friend's face and the tightening in Sasuke's jaw.

"What's the hurry? The bell doesn't ring for another 10 minutes," Sakura says and Sasuke lets go of her.

"I just wanted to make sure that I got everything ready. You know how it is, it's best to be prepared." He supplies as an answer in a cold way and it stings a little.

"Are you okay?"

"You weren't too worried when you were rushing out of my truck."

Sakura is taken aback and doesn't have time to answer before he is pushing through the office doors in a hurry. Not long later he is back next to her and showing her his schedule. He was scheduled every class the same as hers with the exception that he had a free period where she had student council. Earlier this would have filled her with happiness, but she feels a little down about it instead. She didn't like what had just happened.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" He asks softly, cupping her chin and making her look up at him.

"I don't understand what just happened between us. You were fine and then all of a sudden being cold," Sakura murmurs out. Sasuke's eyes soften and he leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead.

"Don't worry about that, I was just overreacting. I thought that you were going to stay with me all morning as it is my first day. I didn't expect you to go off gallivanting with your friends."

"Sorry.. I know, I said that I would stay with you but I can't ignore when a friend is in need. Her cousin, who is also a friend of mine, died and she needed me."

"I know," he drops his hand from her face and looks over his schedule again as the bell rings. "Shall we get going?" Sakura nods and adjusts her backpack.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Sakura did not get to talk to Ino at lunch. In fact, she didn't get to talk to anyone at lunch because she was showing Sasuke around.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I'm sure one of those nice girls from Calculus wouldn't mind showing me around." Sasuke says, falling into step with her as she leads the way.

"Yeah and I'm sure they wouldn't mind showing you some other things, too." Sakura grunts out, shouldering her backpack into her locker as her next class she didn't need it. "Sorry," she sighs out. "They were just… being awfully flirty even though we are clearly, you know.."

"We are..?" Sasuke draws out and watches her with a smirk. "We are what, Sa-ku-ra?"

"A couple!" She lets out and hides her face as she treks down the hallway faster to hide her embarrassment. Sasuke only laughs and follows after her.

~ ` ~ ` ~

It seemed like the whole week leading up to Neji's funeral was like that. The only time she was able to speak to her friends was after school and during athletics. The service was beautiful and Sakura felt so horrible for not being there properly for Hinata, Ten Ten, and Neji's adoptive brother Lee.

"Let me know if you guys need anything, okay? Anything at all," Sakura murmurs as she hugs both Hinata and Ten Ten.

"Thank you, Sakura," Hinata murmurs and leans into Naruto once she pulls away.

It wasn't long after that Sakura found herself sitting in the living room at Sasuke's house. She was perched on the couch waiting for him to get done showering. They were supposed to be going out to eat though Sakura would rather not go anywhere at all.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize we had company."

Sakura looks up quickly hearing a faintly familiar voice from behind her. Her heart hammers inside her chest once she realizes who it is.

"Oh my god.. It's Crow from the Akatsuki.." She mumbles out unintelligently and then her eyes take in the clothing or lack thereof that he was wearing. His towel hanging loosely on his hips had her eyes instantly snapping away.

"Oh, nice of you to greet my girlfriend undressed, Itachi."

Wait.. Sasuke's brother was the guitarist and lead singer for the band Akatsuki? Sakura used to be obsessed with them and she was so heartbroken when Crow left. The band hadn't been the same since.

"My apologies, little brother. It was nice to meet you.." he trails off while looking towards Sakura but Sasuke beats her to it.

"It's Sakura and we were just leaving. Go do whatever it is that you do," Sasuke snarks and comes over to Sakura, pulling her up by her hand a little roughly and out the door. Meanwhile Sakura was a little dazed, not even fully processing what just happened. Hearing the truck door slam shut, Sakura snaps out of it though.

"You aren't going to fangirl over him and leave me, are you?" Sasuke jokes but Sakura could see the truth behind his words. She had a feeling that it had probably happened before.

"Of course not, I like you and only you." She smiles, trying to look as sincere as possible. Though she was a fan back in the day, those days were long over. She had bigger concerns than keeping up with bands and their ex-members.

"Good, I'd have to kill him if that happened," he laughs and Sakura chuckles awkwardly.

The ride to the restaurant was quiet after that, but Sakura didn't mind. It gave her a chance to check up on her friends. She knew that Naruto was trying his best to comfort Hinata and Hinata in turn was trying to be there for Ten Ten simultaneously. Sakura imagined it wasn't very easy to lose a cousin and she wouldn't know what she would do if she spent six years dating somebody only to have them ripped away just before getting to live with them and work on forever. Her heart weeped for both girls.

"What's on your mind?" Sasuke asks as they pull in.

"I'm just thinking about my friends and my friend who had died. They found who did it. It was a group of juvenile gang members. They were all under fifteen," she sighs out. "I just don't understand what goes through people's minds or what brings them to make the decisions that they do."

"I know.." Sasuke says softly, rubbing her knuckles. "Sometimes it is just the cards we are dealt. Not everyone knows how to deal with them."

"I suppose so.."

Sitting at the booth in the restaurant that he had chosen, Sakura felt uncomfortable. She fidgeted in her seat, messing with her clothes as worries filled her mind.

"Hey, relax," Sasuke says as he reaches for her hand from across the table. "You look perfect," he gives her a smile and she returns it after letting out a soft sigh.

"You always know how to take my breath away," Sakura says quietly. Sasuke gave her a small smile in return. No matter the troubles going on in their own individual lives, Sakura was just grateful to spend time with him. Their last school year will only last so long.

"So, tell me.." She pauses, chewing on her lip and missing his dark eyes narrowing in on the movement. "What are you planning to do after school?"

"Law School at some point," he replies after a moment. She shyly looks away when she notices how he looks at her - like she was a divine treat that he couldn't wait to get ahold of. "My brother took over the family business, so I'm going to become a lawyer so that I can protect the business lawfully."

She blinks, surprised by that answer. She had no idea that he would have wanted to do something like that. Sasuke is very good at track and he seemed to enjoy it, so she was expecting him to go the athlete route. However, hearing him want to do something like that for his family's business made her heart do unexpected things.

"What about you?"

"I'm going to go to Medical School. I haven't quite decided which branch, but I'm thinking something in pediatrics," Sakura answers with a smile.

"That's amazing, I'm sure you'll make a wonder doctor, surgeon, or whatever it is you pursue."

Sakura's heart warms when he doesn't assume automatically that she was just going to become a nurse. It isn't that being a nurse is a bad thing nor is it that it is easy. It's plain and simply the fact that she is tired of people assuming what she wants to be when she says she wants to go into the medical field. It feels nice for someone to name something higher up.

The rest of their dinner went like that. They spent time conversing with one another and finding out more about one each other. Sakura didn't know what time it was when they ended up leaving but she knew that the time was now when he looked at her with a spark in his eye that screamed adventure.

"Want to go try something?"

"With you? I'd do anything," she breathes out.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Confusion coupled with adrenaline courses through her veins as they head towards the beach. The window was down and the night air was dancing with the strands of her hair. Her lips were parted slightly and her eyes alert as she watched him drive by her house and follow the coastline out of town.

Soon the trees were blanketed close together and the air turned even cooler. Adventure awaited and she was buzzing with more and more excitement the longer they drove. The ocean wasn't even viewable anymore but she could still pick up a hint of the salt in the air. As an advent beach goer all her life, she learned to be able to tell when she was close to her home away from home.

The sounds of waves crashing against rocks and the shore brought Sakura's attention back to infront of her and that is when Sakura realizes that they are heading towards a ledge. Due to the dirt road, Sakura could assume not many people came here but she didn't care as she felt the truck stop and took Sasuke's hand when he guided her out of the truck.

"Come on!" Sakura whispers shouts as she grabs ahold of his hand and pulls him closer to the ledge.

The night sky was beautiful.

The stars lit up the sky and Sakura took in a deep breath, closing her eyes. She brought Sasuke's hand around to her front to where she moved his arms around her and leaned into his chest. She relaxed, taking in the quietness of the world around them. No cars, no people. Just them and the sea.

They stay like that for a couple moments and then Sasuke pulls from her, spinning her around. Confused she looks up at him but her breath hitches when he swoops down quickly and captures her lips.

Inexperienced as she is, Sakura feels a little awkward but quickly relaxes into it and lifts her arms to loop around his neck. He seizes her around the waist and lifts her up to where her legs are wrapped around his waist. Sasuke pulls back for a moment, pressing kisses to her neck and her cheeks.

"You're beautiful," he whispers out and Sakura blushes. She didn't know what to say, so instead she recaptured his lips in an endearing kiss.

They break away when they hear a particular loud wave hitting the rocks below. Sasuke lets her down and takes ahold of her hand.

"Come on, lets look around."

She follows after him as they climb down the rocky path that leads to a small strip of beach to the side of the ledge.

Seeing the moon against the rocks, Sakura is in awe and misses the look of adoration spreading across his face. She feels him let go of her hand and she looks at him questioningly only to find him combing the sand, looking for something.

"Are you looking for seashells?" She laughs out quietly. "Here, take off your shoes. Follow me," she says softly and takes off her shoes before going ankle deep in the water. Sakura could feel the water lapping at her legs and she wished it wasn't so dark so that she could fully submerge herself in the water. She hadn't been able to swim in a bit and she missed it.

She bends down, waiting for the water to recede, and looks around in the sand as Sasuke does the same.

"The water brings in things from the ocean but it also uncovers some sand each time it comes up so it's easier to find some shells," Sakura explains and Sasuke gives her a smile.

"Do you do this often?" He asks and Sakura nods with a bright smile.

"Of course, I practically live at the beach," she laughs out.

They spend a little bit looking, but at some point Sasuke wasn't searching and instead decided to splash her with some water. She looked at him with fire in her eyes.

"You traitor!" She laughs out as she lunges with her own water attack.

They carry on, both getting some good splashes in, until a particularly big wave comes in and slightly knocks her off her feet and into him. They land on the sand, the water washing over them with Sakura on top, staring into his eyes.

The world slowed around them. The water and wind singing a duet becomes a quiet melody in their ears. Sakura lets out a soft breath and Sasuke zeroes in on her lips before looking into her eyes for permission. Taking initiative, Sakura moves to straddle him instead and captures his lips instead. She didn't want to wait.

His hands come to grip onto her waist as he moves to sit up. He holds onto her as they kiss and eventually asks for entrance with his tongue. As soon as he is granted it, she is sloppily battling him for dominance but he wins. He always wins. Sasuke explores her mouth and she lets out a soft moan as he grips her hip a little roughly when he moves it down.

They carry on, kissing and making out. Maybe even a little bit of grinding, but eventually it comes to a stop when they are out of breath.

"Let's get out of here," he says and Sakura lets out a breathy smile.

"Okay."

~ ` ~ ` ~

Her hand was out the window, bobbing in the night wind. Her head laid back in her seat and the only thing on her mind was the feeling of simply being. The music from the radio playing loud, but she could still barely hear it over the sound of the wind and tires on the road. Rolling her head to the side, she looks into the driver's seat. A soft smile on her lips as she takes in the relaxed expression on his face. His dark brows completely evened out and one hand on the steering wheel, his onyx eyes focused on the road, while the other hand was on her thigh. Rolling her head to the other side, she stares out of the window and watches the town fade into the choppy waves of the ocean. This was it, she was sure. This is the feeling she was longing for all of her life.

She barely registered them pulling into his driveway before he was gently cupping her chin and turning her towards him. He gives her a soft look and Sakura is completely taken whenever he gently captures her lips with his. His hands were cupping her face but they were gone in an instant, just like his lips, as he opened the door to his truck. Just as quick as he was gone, he was right back by her side as he opened her door and picked her up.

She giggles and Sasuke gives her, not a smirk, but a smile. He quickly swings her out of the way of the door closing and in the same motion, dipping her down and giving her another kiss - this one taking her breath away.

They couldn't have gotten inside his house quick enough, both of them foregoing looking around for anyone else and instead letting their footsteps echo alongside Sakura's giggles. They completely rushed past Itachi in the kitchen, coffee placed to his lips. But that didn't matter to them as they entered his room and he had her on the bed.

Her hair splayed around her like a halo, her emerald eyes staring up at him doe-like, and her soft lips parted slightly. Sasuke stared down at her with smothering eyes, his shirt already thrown off, and his hands on either side of her head.

"Are you ready?" He asked her, watching her for any sign other than consent. She gulps, bringing her hand to rest on his cheek, gazing up at him with trusting eyes. "Yes," Sakura answers softly.

That night, she felt and experienced many things but the one thing she knew for sure was that she didn't want it to ever stop. That night was perfect.


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting up, Sakura stretches her arms out and lets out a quiet yawn. The sheets pool around her waist and she notices that it’s particularly colder than normal when she wakes up. Startled, her bleary eyes snap open and she takes in the bleak and plain grey room around her. It was Sasuke’s room, her mind supplies, as she recalls last night. Her face turns cherry red and she buries her head in her hands.

“I can’t believe that.. That we did that,” she whispers and looks over to the side to see him laying down with one arm propped up and hand holding up his head. His onyx eyes were staring her down, a haze to them that was familiar to Sakura.

“Me either,” he says in a deep raspy voice - not quite awake.

He sits up and comes closer to her, wrapping his arm around her waist, and leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. Sakura smiles, leaning into his touch. Looking over at his clock she is surprised to see that it was only 8 a.m. Still, she needed to get home. Her phone must have died during the night because when she reached for it and tried to turn it on, it remained as a black screen.

“I should probably get home soon, my mom is going to kill me,” she laughs softly but she still felt a little bubble of anxiety in her chest at the thought of upsetting her mom.

“Can’t you stay for breakfast at least?” He questions, raising an eyebrow and she lets out a sigh accompanied with a smile.

Sakura gets dressed in her outfit from last night while Sasuke steps in the shower. She really needed to find a charger for her phone to let her mom know that she’s okay - just accidentally fell asleep. She figured that Itachi had one and if he didn’t, then she could see if Sasuke had any. She doubted it because Sasuke had an iphone and she didn’t. Quietly, she creeps out of his room and down the stairs to where she remembers the living room being. She could hear voices and she silently curses herself. None of them sounded like his brother, but they did sound a little familiar.

“Hey, who’s the babe?”

Sakura stops mid-step off of the stairs and makes eye contact with a male who had striking ocean blue eyes and dirty blond hair that complimented his golden skin-tone.

“Sasuke’s girlfriend, Sakura Haruno,” Itachi supplies as he steps out of the kitchen with some dango on a plate.

“Hasn’t anyone ever taught you the proper way to try and get someone's name,” she huffs as she crosses her arms. She observes him one more time, trying to figure out where she knew him from but when her eyes meet the red-head with heavy lidded amber eyes sitting next to him, it finally clicks.

“Oh, so you still talk to your old bandmates, Itachi?” Sakura asks, curious and comes a little closer.

“Ha, I knew she had good taste in music,” snorts the blond as he gives her a sly look. “Too bad her taste in men is questionable - ow!”

“Stop being an idiot, Deidara,” mumbles the red head, Sasori she thinks, as Deidara rubs his rib where the redhead had elbowed him.

Sakura shakes her head, deciding to ask Itachi what she came down for.

“Hey, do you happen to have an android phone charger that I could borrow?” She asks, settling her gaze on him. He looks back at her, no sign of any kind of acknowledgement other than him nodding his head after a second and standing up to head upstairs. She stands there, awkwardly, waiting for him to come back either empty handed or with what she needs.

“Here,” he says and gently hands it to her. Sakura gives him a bright smile in return with a quick, “Thank you!” before heading over to the island separating the kitchen from the living room. Plugging it into the wall, she quickly plugs in her phone and works on turning it on. Immediately, notification after notification goes off and dread fills her stomach. She didn’t even notice a pair of charcoal eyes resting on her as she was too focused on her phone.

“Oh, there you are,” Sasuke says and wraps his arms around her waist. “I thought maybe you decided to ditch me, but I see you’ve just come down to spend time with my brother and his goons,” he says sharply.

“I actually came down to ask him for a charger, nothing else. My phone died and I knew that my phone would be blowing up,” she responds with a clipped tone to her words. “See,” she says and shows him her phone that was completely spazzing out from notifications from her mom and her friends. One or two are even from her dad. “I actually need to get home. I wasn’t supposed to spend the night.”

“Can’t it wait for after we eat?” He whines and she shakes her head. She was feeling anxious to get home and to calm her mom down. She didn’t like being in trouble.

“No, I need to go,” she breaks away from his embrace only for him to hold on a little tighter. “Sasuke, I need to go,” she says sternly and he just huffs. He was about to retort a comment but Itachi beat him to it.

“Let her go, she needs to get home. Besides, mother and father will be home soon. It wouldn’t be a good idea for them to see her here this early.” He pauses, settling an intense stare on Sasuke as he continues, “Besides.. You wouldn’t want them to know that you let her sleep over, would you?”

Sakura removes herself from Sasuke’s grip, watching his nostrils flare a little. He didn’t like not getting his way, she noted, and that would need to change. Instantly, the anger is wiped from his face as he pulls Sakura towards him by the hand and presses a kiss to her forehead.

“Fine. Be safe,” he grunts out and Sakura offers him a small, forced smile.

“Always.”

~ ` ~ ` ~

“Sakura Haruno, where the hell have you been?!?”

Sakura’s ears were assaulted as soon as she stepped through the front door. She hugs her arms to her body, looking at her mom sheepishly.

“I lost track of time and fell asleep at his house after the date,” she mumbles out.

“And you didn’t think to text me?” Her mother grits out and Sakura shakes her head no before continuing to dig herself a deeper hole.

“I forgot my charger and my phone died….”

“Unbelievable..” her mother mutters and sighs out. “If you were any other girl or teenager, you would be grounded for a lifetime. As is, I know you would never do it on purpose so I will let it slide this time. Do not let it happen again.”

“Yes, ma’am..”

There is a beat of silence before her mother develops a coy smile and Sakura experiences a new type of dread in her stomach.

“Now, tell me, how’d it go? Did you guys kiss? Maybe make out a little?”

“Mom!” She screeches out, mortified. “You can’t ask me things like that!”

The elder woman only chuckled in response and insisted that she tell her everything. Naturally, Sakura left out the details about her and him going all the way. Her mother didn’t need to know that her little baby isn’t much of a baby anymore.

~ ` ~ ` ~

“Oh. my. God!!!” Screeches Ino, shock written all over her face. “I can’t believe it!!” She swoons, falling backwards on Sakura’s bed. “My little girl is all grown up - losing her innocence to devilishly handsome boys!” Ino fake sobs and Sakura playfully shoves her.

“Hush! My family will hear you,” Sakura hisses and Ino only laughs maniacally.

After a while they calm down and Ino gives her a smile.

“It’s nice to be able to see you outside of the hallway.”

“I know. I’ve just been so busy,” Sakura sighs out and plops down backwards next to her. “Not that being busy is an excuse. I’ve just never had to balance a boyfriend before. I’m sure I’ll figure it out,” she hums out.

“Well, let me know if he ever does something wrong - I’ll get him for ya,” Ino playfully punches the air and Sakura rolls her eyes before knocking her off the bed.

“Like I would need help from a pig like you,” she laughs out and Ino lets out a loud oof as she hits the ground.

“How rude!” Ino laughs out.

It was moments like this that made Sakura forget all about the bad times or about the sometimes less than perfect moments. She knew that she would always have Ino.

~ ` ~ ` ~

“So.. Who are you?” Naruto squints, squatting in front of Sasuke so that he is eye level with the male that is sitting down on the beach towel next to Sakura.

“Sasuke-”

“Aye, idiot, knock it off!” Sakura shouts and shoves him over. “Stop trying to intimidate him. This is the exact reason why I wasn’t going to let him tag along,” she sighs out before looking at Sasuke. “I’m sorry about him, he’s just a little over protective.”

“It’s fine,” Sasuke shrugs and levels Naruto with a stare. Naruto groans from the ground and slowly stands up before looking over towards his girlfriend, Hinata, and crawling over towards her towel dramatically.

“Sakura is so mean to me,” he sniffs and practically crawls into her lap. The petite girls face turns scarlet and she lightly rubs his head, her small fingers combing through his short, spiky strands.

“I’m sorry, I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way,” Hinata whispers softly and Naruto only sniffs loudly before looking towards Sakura and blowing a raspberry.

Sakura rolls her eyes, standing up and holding her hand out to Sasuke.

“Come on, we came here to swim, remember?” She smiles and Sasuke stands up along with her. Together they trek towards the water, hand in hand.

“I don’t like him. There’s just something about him that rubs me the wrong way,” Naruto comments and Kiba nods along.

“He seems kind of like an asshole,” Kiba agrees and Ino rolls her eyes from her position on her towel where Shikamary was lazily rubbing sunscreen on her back.

“You two be nice. She is happy, just be happy for her.” Ino watches Sakura’s and Sasuke’s backs from her spot but is pulled away when Shikamaru stops moving. “Hey! You aren’t done yet, if I get a sunburn it is on you!”

“Troublesome woman,” he rolls his eyes and continues.

“How do you two still act like an old married couple even when you aren’t together anymore?” Groans out Kiba and Ino throws her flip flop at him.

“You’re just mad because this lazy ass got a piece of all this,” she puckers her lips and tries to put herself in a sexy pose only to lose balance on her one arm and tip over into the sand where Shikamaru just applied fresh sunscreen.

“That’s it, I’m not doing this anymore. If you need me, I will be over in the shade watching the clouds.” Shikamaru places his hands in his pockets after wiping them off on her towel and walks away to the sound of Kiba’s howling laughter, Naruto’s contagious snorts, and Hinata’s soft giggles.

“It’s not funny!” Whines Ino but she’s smiling anyway.

Pretty soon, the whole crew minus Shikamaru is in the water.

“Nice of you guys to finally join us,” comments Sakura as she floats on her back. A dangerous position to be in with two mischievous boys around. One stolen glance between Kiba and Naruto, only a second to prepare, and both boys are ducking under the water and grabbing her by the ankles. Naturally, she flails and lets out a shout of surprise.

“What the hell?!” Her elbows come down roughly on both of their heads causing unison groans to escape them as they resurfaced. Hinata was forced to not let her amusement show as she catered to Naruto’s whining and Sakura only shook her head in anguish.

“You guys deserved that,” Ino said and both boys only nod.

“We know, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less,” whines Kiba and Sasuke rolls his eyes. “Do you have a problem with something I said?” He asks, his eyes narrowing towards him. Sasuke only shrugs before turning to Sakura.

“Do you want to grab something to eat?” He asks her and she ponders it for a moment before nodding.

“Sure! Come on guys, let's go grab something from the ice cream shack.”

She completely misses the look of dread and annoyance that flashes through Sasuke’s eyes, but Hinata didn’t. Since her cousin's death, she has become even more vigilant in taking notice of things. Maybe the boys were onto something earlier?

~ ` ~ ` ~

They quickly find themselves down at the shack at a round table. Together they joked around with each other and had fun. At least, Sakura hoped that was the case. She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that Sasuke wasn’t really engaging in any conversation. He seemed detached. Did he not like her friends?

“I’ll be right back, I’m just going to run to the bathroom real quick!” Sakura says and stands up with Ino and Hinata following her after the two other girls share a look.

“Us, too. We’ll be back,” Ino says and the three of them head towards the bathroom.

“Is he always like this?” Ino immediately skips beating around the bush.

“Ino! You need to have some tact,” Hinata admonishes and Sakura seems a little caught off guard.

“No! He’s normally super sweet. I think it’s just because he doesn’t know you guys that well yet. Just give it time,” Sakura says immediately. In her heart, she herself didn’t think this was the case but she was holding onto a little bit of hope that this was the case. She didn’t know what she would do if the boy she was growing feelings for didn’t like her friend group.

~ ` ~ ` ~

The silence at the table between the boys was stifling when the girls came back. Nerves started making their way up Sakura’s spine and into her mind. She just wanted them all to work out.

“Hey, Sasuke.”

Sakura’s head snaps up at the same time Sasuke groans and Ino stops breathing.

“What do you want-” Sasuke is caught off by Ino letting out an ungodly high pitched squeal.

“Oh my god! It’s him- It’s, it’s-” she rambles and bounces up and down in her seat. Sakura grimaces as the blonde attaches herself to her arm. She forgot that Ino never quite got over her Akatsuki phase as much as she claimed she did. She still had pictures of Crow and the Puppet in her closet.

“Ino, you need to calm down. You are going to scare the poor man into never leaving his house again,” Sakura teases and Ino rolls her eyes but takes a deep breath. Everyone else looks a little confused. Sakura didn’t know if it was because they had no idea who the Crow is or about how he knows Sasuke. To Sakura it was kind of obvious, they both looked a lot alike.

“I’m Ino,” the blonde purrs and pushes her arms together to show off some more of her cleavage as she puts on what she assumes is a flirty face. Sakura notices Itachi looking anywhere but her as he answers.

“I’m Itachi-”

“He’s no one important. What do you want,” Sasuke grouches and Ino shoots him a glare but a look from Sakura has her just pouting in her seat instead. She would get the tea by herself later.

“Father and Mother would like you to come home now. They have something important to discuss,” he says.

Sasuke rolls his eyes but stands up. He leans down and presses a soft kiss to Sakura’s forehead and they exchange quick goodbyes. Sakura is left lovestruck and everyone else is left in a confused daze. Who knew such an asshole could be related to someone that godly? At least, that’s what Ino was thinking.

“So, you’ve been keeping Sasuke and his eye-candy brother all to yourself?” Ino teases, snapping Sakura out of her daze.

Shikamaru groans, not ready for what is about to take place.

“Excuse me! You would have eye raped him if I ever told you and tried to break into his house!” Sakura shouts and Ino snorts.

“I have standards forehead. Not many high ones, but not that low.”

Hinata sighs, placing a hand on each girl.

“Come on guys, our ice cream is melting. We can discuss this later.” The dark haired girl reasons and everyone just agrees. No point in arguing with the soft spoken girl.

~ ` ~ ` ~

That night the girls were all gathered on Sakura's bedroom floor.

“How are you holding up?” Sakura asks after a moment and Hinata lets out a soft sigh as she turns on her side.

“It still doesn’t make sense, but I’m not constantly thinking about it anymore,” she replies softly. She had missed a week of school to cope with the whole incident with her cousin Neji. Sakura felt terrible for not being there for her.

“Have you heard from Ten Ten?” Ino asks from where she was painting her toe-nails an obnoxious fuschia.

“No, she isn’t answering phone calls,” Hinata shakes her head.

“I’ve tried, too. Maybe she just needs some time to herself…” Sakura says softly and the other two girls nod, hoping that was the case and that their friend would come talk to them in due time.

“So, have you guys decided on a school yet?” Sakura asks, deciding that they needed a new subject. It wouldn’t be right to have their girls night be in a constant depressive funk.

“I think I’m going to go to the same business school my father went to in the next town over. It’s close enough that I can just drive there from my house,” Hinata hums out as she sits up and starts combing her long hair. It was about waist length and she lets out a grunt of frustration when it doesn’t brush out all of the way.

“I’m going to the top University a couple of states up,” Ino hums out and Sakura’s eyebrow raises up. “It’s going to be so cold up there, I’m definitely going to miss the beach,” Ino pouts.

“So you’re moving?” Sakura asks and Hinata stops brushing her hair to look at Ino as well. This was news to the both of them. They thought she would attend the university in their home town and help her parents flower shop in the meantime.

“Yeah, I figured that if I’m going to do the whole physcology thing right then I needed to have the best education possible,” she explains and the other two girls nod in acceptance.

“You’ll have to talk to us often or we may go crazy without you,” Sakura says and Ino rolls her eyes.

“With the amount I will be calling both of you, you guys are going to have my number blocked by day two!” She laughs out. “Enough about me though, what about you Sakura?”

“I’m going to get my undergraduates here at the University. Then I’m going to work my way up to the medical school in the city,” Sakura hums out.

“Man, look at us, being all grown up with plans and shit,” Ino snorts out and Hinata gasps.

“Language!!” She says and Sakura grins.

“You know better, Hinata. No filter here!” And the three girls engage in a tickle fight that ends up with all three of them passed out on the floor by 3 a.m.

All night, Sakura didn’t look at her phone once.

~ ` ~ ` ~

“Why didn’t you answer your phone,” grunts Sasuke as he watches her climb into his truck.

“Oh sorry, I was just caught up with Hinata and Ino.” Sakura smiles, thinking back to the night before. She had so much fun. She’s really going to miss being able to do that with them whenever she pleases.

“Whatever.”

“Is something wrong?” She asks, eyebrow raised. Sakura wasn’t sure what was starting to make him act like this, but she was growing concerned.

“No,” Sasuke says and starts pulling out into the road. “Let’s just get to school.”

“Okay..” She drops the conversation, but it was still bugging her.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Athletics was one of her favorite classes.

She is one of the fastest runners at the school with the exception of Naruto, Kiba, and, now, Sasuke.

Running through her warm ups, she smiles and jogs in place. Today they were practicing the relay race. The coach for the track team was Mr. Guy and he was an energetic man despite his age. His self-proclaimed rival is the volleyball coach Mr. Hatake. Their bickering never failed to amuse Sakura and today was no different.

“What did you drink this morning? Three expresso shots of princesses, unicorns, and rainbows. It’s too early for this,” groans Mr. Hatake.

“No, just the passion of youth! Which is something you have never understood!”

Sakura and Ino had a bet placed to see how much longer the two could last before the whole school knew that the two of them were actually married.

“You look good in that uniform,” Sasuke says lowly in her ear and Sakura lightly pushes him away with her face flushed.

“Behave,” she teases and he lets out a playful growl before the two of them get into their positions. First spot is Kiba, then her, Sasuke, and then Naruto. They were mixing up the line-up a little bit for the upcoming track season.

~ ` ~ ` ~

It wasn’t long after school that Sakura found herself pressed into the seat of his truck, parked behind some trees at a nearby park - not very far from the school.

“Do you realize how hard it is to control myself around you?” He growls out into her ear and Sakura’s face blushes bright red as she looks up at him through her thick lashes. She wasn’t entirely sure about their predicament. She really enjoyed what she was feeling, but she also didn’t want to risk getting caught.

As he starts moving down and kissing her neck, tugging at her shirt and pants, she finally snaps out of it.

“No, stop,” she says and he ignores her as he continues. His hand was bringing up her top and she pushes him away, pulling her shirt down. “No, Sasuke. We’re at a park for god’s sake. There are children and other people that could see.”

It was almost easy to miss the angry glint in his eyes. Almost.

“Fine,” he pulls off of her and buckles up his seat belt. He revs up the engine of the truck and doesn’t say another word. Sakura doesn’t either, instead situating herself and looking out the window. They were supposed to hang out at his house today, but she is confused when they drive by his house and instead stop at hers. She looks at him questioningly but he is already talking before she can say anything.

“I’ll be back at 7:50 p.m. Be ready because my parents don’t like it when people are late.”

Nodding, she leans forwards to kiss him but only manages to get his cheek. Feeling a little hurt, she pulls away and grabs her school bag on her way out of the truck. Turning around to say goodbye before heading inside, she notes that he is already rolling up the window and pulling away. Hurt crosses her face before anger overruns it and she stomps into her house.

“Sakura, honey, what’s wrong?” Her mother calls from the kitchen, the scent of brownies wafting through the air.

“Nothing mom! Just school,” she shouts back and hurries up towards her room.

“Stupid boys,” she grumbles and starts gathering clothes to go take a shower. She had two hours to get ready and she was going to dress to impress. Even if Sasuke acted cold towards her sometimes, she wanted to give him another chance and she needed to be on good terms with his parents in case it all works out.

Even so, she had half the mind to not even go.

~ ` ~ ` ~

7:50 rolls around and Sakura is dolled up. She wears light pink lip gloss, neutral eye shadow with a tinge of pink at the crease, and light mascara with some rose blush. Her clothes of choice was a cute floral shirt that hung loosely to the shoulders and flared out slightly at the bottom of the sleeves and the shirt itself. Sakura chose some light blue jeans and some light pink wedges. She looked damn good if she did say so herself as she pulled her hair into a cute bun.

“Sakura! There’s a cute gentleman here to see you,” sing-songed her mother.

Excitement despite all of the earlier issues bubbled up in her chest and she hurried downstairs, nearly forgetting her purse.

The excitement immediately dies when she sees Itachi in the living room instead of Sasuke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys prefer longer chapters or shorter ones? My boyfriend suggested maybe not writing so much per each chapter. This way I'm not stressing myself out with the word count each chapter and maybe I can write more often. This chapter is half the length of Chapter One.
> 
> Let me know which you prefer!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the longish wait! I don't have the best track record with updating, but I'm trying to be better about it because I am SO excited for what I have planned for this story. We aren't even close to what I am so excited for but let me tell you guys: it is going to be SO worth it. (At least I hope so).
> 
> Also, a HUGE thank you to: crucialstar_16, sympatheticpacifest, and kittlestix! You guys have no idea how much I appreciated receiving those comments! I am, unfortunately, one of those writes that feel very discouraged to continue working on something if I feel like it isn't being well received or like no one is enjoying it. I literally cried each time I got a comment and you three are the first ever comments for this story. I appreciate it, really I do, from the bottom of my heart.

“Oh, hey Itachi,” Sakura says softly as she chews on the inside of her cheek.

She felt disappointed that it was not Sasuke there to pick her up like he said that he would. It left a saddening feeling in her stomach when a million reasons filter through her mind. Was he still mad at her? Did he not want her to meet his parents? What if something happened? The possibilities were endless and she found little to no questions that couldn’t be asked.

“Are you ready to go?” He asks politely and she nods.

“I’ll be back later, mom,” Sakura says and gives her mom a quick hug before following after Itachi who, ever the gentleman, holds the door open for her.

“Thank you for picking me up, I appreciate it,” Sakura says as they start walking towards the Uchiha residence. “I could have walked myself, though, if I had known that Sasuke wouldn’t be able to make it. I hate to trouble you,” she says softly.

“It’s no problem at all.”

Sakura nods, allowing the silence to fall across them. The walk wasn’t far and she still had the question as to why Sasuke wasn’t there to pick her up on the tip of her tongue.

“Is Sasuke not home?” She questions, her eyes falling on the empty driveway save for three other vehicles - none of them Sasuke’s truck. Itachi shakes his head, opening the door for her as they travel up the steps.

“No, he had to go take care of something,” Itachi answers and leaves it at that.

Sakura chews on her bottom lip, her mind going to several places at once. Why couldn’t Sasuke have let her known?

As per usual, the house was beautifully done but Sakura couldn’t help but take note of the extra cleanliness. From the normally empty kitchen, save for Itachi’s occasional presence, emerged a woman only a couple of inches taller than Sakura. She had waist-length black hair and warm grey eyes, but what drew her in was the uncanny similarity she had with Sasuke and Itachi.

“Hi, I’m Mikoto,” the woman greets warmly, “Sasuke’s mom.” Sakura smiles at her back, thinking she was going in for a handshake but is instead pulled into a hug that nearly took her breath away. For someone so petite, she had a strong embrace. Caught off guard, Sakura stumbles over her words.

“I’m Sakura,” she breathes out and Mikoto beams.

“It is lovely to meet you! Please, please,” the older woman guides her further into the house and Itachi closes the door softly, “come sit and make yourself comfortable. I’m sure Sasuke will be here at any minute. Dinner is just a tad behind schedule, but it will be ready soon.”

Sakura smiles, feeling a little overwhelmed, but sitting down when suggested to do so.

“Itachi, dear, why don’t you find out where your brother is?” Mikoto suggests sweetly.

“Yes, mother.”

Sakura watches him head upstairs and Sakura feels a little disappointed at being left alone with Mikoto. She is a nice woman, but Sakura felt a little overwhelmed and was slightly more at ease knowing that she had Itachi there.

Itachi and her weren’t close by any means, but she had talked to him a few times before and that was enough to make her feel more comfortable around him than their mother.

She chews on her lip, trying her best not to snoop around the house with her wondering eyes, and also trying to appear polite. She didn’t want to give the wrong impression. This is the first time that she has formally met her even though she has been over a couple of times. As far as she knew, they were out of town on a trip up until that morning she and Sasuke spent the night together.

“So, tell me, how did you meet my sweet boy?” Mikoto asks as she comes to sit down on the chair opposite of where Sakura sat. “I do hope he has been a gentleman.”

“Uh, well, we met the day that you all moved into town. He stopped me on my way home from the beach,” Sakura says and a dreamy look passes over her face. She still couldn’t believe that someone like Sasuke had resisted Ino’s charm and asked for her number. It was mind-boggling that she had also been the lucky one to lose her innocence to him. “Not to worry, Mrs. Uchiha-”

“Mikoto, dear, please call me Mikoto.”

Sakura smiles hesitantly before continuing, fumbling over her words slightly awkwardly, “He has been nothing short of a gentleman.” She decided to leave out the bits of him being kind of a twat now and then. It was little things, nothing to go telling his mother about.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

They spend time talking for a little while. Though Sakura felt a little awkward and out of place at times in the woman's presence, she quickly felt a little more at ease. She found Mikoto charming and Mikoto found her the same in return. When Itachi comes down the stairs the two women don’t notice, too wrapped up in their conversation that had somehow ended up with Mikoto pulling out the baby pictures of her two darling boys.

“Aw, they were so sweet and innocent looking,” Sakura giggles and Mikoto nods in agreement.

“They were,” she sighs out. “I just wish they had stayed that way.”

“Sasuke didn’t answer his phone,” Itachi interrupts their conversation, and Mikoto sighs while Sakura’s heart seizes in panic. She hoped that he was okay. It was early in their relationship, but she felt a strong connection with him. He was her first with a lot of things and because of this, she felt an attachment to him.

“Sasuke texted me, he will be home soon,” comes a deep voice from the staircase. Coming down the stairs was one of the most intimidating men that Sakura had ever seen. His mouth seemed to be in a permanent frown and the tension in his brows put Hinata’s dads resting bitch face to shame. Sakura couldn’t help but feel a little nervous when his charcoal eyes focused on her.

“Hello, it is nice to finally meet the girl who has seemed to catch my sons’ attention.” He walks towards her, offering his hand in greeting. “I am Fugaku.”

“I’m Sakura, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she says and quickly stands up to shake his hand firmly. Everything about a person could be told through their handshake and she wanted to make sure she appeared strong and worthy.

It wasn’t an unknown fact that Sakura is a people pleaser and loved it when she knew that she was held in high regard. Anything less and she was filled with an ugly feeling of anxiety, dread, and constant self-doubt. Deep down, it all seemed to stem from her need to be perfect for her parents and not waste all of their hard work.

Fugaku nods, withdrawing his hand, and turns to his wife.

“Shall we go ahead and set up the table? I’m sure it won’t be too much longer,” Fugaku says and Mikoto nods.

“You two just stay in here, we’ll call you both when it is ready,” she says softly to Sakura and Itachi before following her husband into the kitchen.

It left Sakura and Itachi alone in the living room. The two were standing there in silence with Sakura staring at a wall.

“He’s okay.”

“I’m sorry?” Sakura asks, snapping her attention from the wall and focusing on Itachi.

“Sasuke,” he supplies before reiterating, “he is okay.”

Sakura blinks before it clicks and she smiles softly, “Oh. Of course he is, thank you.”

Itachi nods and they are brought into silence again, but Sakura can’t seem to stop fidgeting or focus on anything.

“So, what made you leave Akatsuki?” She questions, deciding to just get out some of her curiosity. “I mean, you are obviously still close to some of the members, so it couldn’t have been disputes or resentments.”

“I had to stop performing to focus on the family business.”

“Oh..”

A moment passes and Sakura thinks the answer over. It made sense, but it still left another question.

“Do you miss it?”

As he is about to answer, the door is opened and Sakura looks over to see a disgruntled Sasuke.

His hair is all messy, his clothes in a disarray, and questionable marks were on his face and neck. Sakura’s eyes widened in worry, completely forgetting about her conversation with Itachi. She rushes over to him.

“Are you okay?” She says worriedly and he only grunts, slightly shouldering her away.

“I’m fine,” he fends her off as he heads up the stairs. “I’m going to shower, I’ll be down in a minute.”

Sakura is left standing by the doorway, staring at the stairs that he retreated up. Itachi watches her before looking in the direction of the stairs as well.

“Was that Sasuke?” Mikoto asks, coming back to the living room, her eyes searching the room for her youngest.

“Yes,” Itachi answers and she nods.

“Food is ready,” she smiles and gestures for them to file into the dining room.

Sakura nods, following after Itachi but not without casting quick glances up the stairs for any sign of Sasuke. Once inside the dining room, her breath is taken away and her mind is distracted from her boyfriend. The dining room is beautiful - filled with gold accents and redwood furniture. It was a complete contrast from the dingy dining room that Madara had always welcomed them to. That was just looking at the dining room itself and not the amazing food that was on the dining room table.

“I hope you like it, I wasn’t sure what you liked so I made a bit of everything,” Mikoto says softly as she finds her seat to the right of Fugaku who was at the head of the table.

Itachi pulls out a chair on the left side of the table, gesturing for Sakura to have a seat. She smiles at him, sitting down, and offering a “Thank you.” Itachi sits down next to her, closest to Fugaku, and Sakura fiddles with her hands in her lap.

She had time to get accustomed to Mikoto, but she wasn’t sure she would ever be comfortable around Fugaku. The man just screamed judgment, intimidation, and all things testosterone.

“I’m assuming Sasuke is in the shower?” Fugaku questions, settling his gaze on Itachi.

“Yes, father,” he answers and Sakura couldn’t help but feel her heart squeeze at the slightly less warm tone that he used with Fugaku. It wasn’t like how he talked to Mikoto. She figured there must be some strain there and Sakura couldn’t help but let her mind wander to Itachi’s time in his band.

“I’m here,” Sasuke says and takes a seat across from Sakura and next to Mikoto. His eyes settle on Sakura and as they do, he adjusts the collar of his shirt to settle high and rest on the underside of his jaw. Sakura only gives him a small smile, deciding on completely ignoring how he brushed her off before.

“Are you alright? You didn’t look too good on the way inside,” Sakura asks softly and with concern in her voice.

“Yes, what did happen, brother?” Itachi asks, settling cool eyes on him. Sasuke huffs, rolling his eyes.

“I got into a fight.”

“You did what,” Mikoto says sharply and Sakura slightly ducks into her seat. She had never expected a tone like that to ever come from such a sweet woman like Mikoto. Perhaps she really is related to Sasuke after all.

“Mikoto, dear, we can deal with this later. We have a guest,” comes Fugaku’s calm response and Mikoto visibly calms and returns to her cheery persona.

“Right, right,” she lightly clasps her hands together. “Let’s eat!” She cheers and Sasuke didn’t have to be told twice to dig in. He seemed pretty hungry and Sakura just chalked it up to the adrenaline after a fight.

Dinner goes by without much more incidence. Sakura genuinely enjoyed spending time with the Uchiha household and she hoped that they felt the same way. When it was time to leave, Sakura didn’t want to go but she knew she had to. It was nearly ten at night and she had school in the morning.

“Come over whenever you like, Sakura,” Fugaku says and Mikoto nods in agreement as she pulls Sakura into one last hug.

“Thank you for having me,” Sakura says and says her final farewells. It leaves just her and Sasuke on the doorstep.

The air around them is slightly awkward and tense which causes Sakura to toe at the ground, avoiding eye contact. Sasuke sighs before starting to walk. Quickly, Sakura runs to catch up with him.

“Where are you going?” She questions, noticing that they are crossing the road instead of heading down the street to her house. “This isn’t the way to my house.”

“I know.”

“Oh,” she says softly and debates following after him but her mind is made up for her when he grabs onto her hand. He tugs her gently, pulling her towards him, as he hops over the small fence to the beach. There was seldom anyone around: just them, a couple and a dog further down, the ocean and the stars. They come to a stop at the shoreline and Sasuke pulls her close, wrapping his arm around her.

“I’m sorry.”

Her heart quickens in pace when she hears those words. She looks up at him to get a good look at his face and finds him looking down at her with a gentle expression. She didn’t need to ask what he was apologizing for. She knew - at least, she thinks she knows. Sakura wants to tell him how she feels, how she felt, but it all disappeared when she caught the soft expression in his eyes. She wanted to tell him how much of an ass he could be, but the only thing she could think about is how vulnerable he seemed to be underneath the moonlight with the sound of the ocean serving as his ballad.

“It’s okay,” she settles for instead.

And she knew it would be, too.

~ ` ~ ` ~

From: Unknown  
Subject: none  
To: Sakura H.  
\-----------------------------  
Yes. (12 a.m.)

Sakura woke up in the early hours of the morning. The clock next to her bedside read 5 a.m. but she could seldom concentrate on that when her mind was reeling over who this mystery number is. She didn’t want to respond to it because she had no idea who it could be. The text was unusual: it had no subject line and it was such a simple text. It gave no inclination as to who it could be.

Setting her phone down, she focuses on just getting ready for the day instead, but is side-tracked once more when she catches sight of the beach across the street.

“What a great morning for a run,” she sighs out.

So run she did.

There was nothing more liberating than the gentle wind dancing with the strands of her hair while the waves played her favorite song in her ear. Mornings like this were her favorite. There was never a more bright smile on her face than in moments like this when she is alone and in her favorite place.

Up ahead she spots a bench and she decides that’s a good place to stop before she heads back. Sitting down she lets out a breath of air, feeling her body relax. She watches the sunrise and she enjoys seeing the colors in the sky. It reminded her of painting, something she enjoyed doing but just wasn’t very good at. She sits there and sits there, nothing on her mind and just her among the sea and sand.

Just her being.

She loved it.

~ ` ~ ` ~

On her way back, Sakura sees Itachi and Sasuke outside of their house. They seem to be in a heated argument but neither seems to notice her as Sasuke storms into the house. At least, she thought so, before her eyes meet Itachi’s. He gives her a small smile and she returns it. She’s about to go about her way but he is heading towards her, so she stays in one spot.

“Hey,” she says as he stops in front of her.

“I just wanted to apologize for you witnessing that argument and also for the late text I sent last night,” he says calmly. She is taken aback.

“That was you?” She asks and he nods. She laughs quietly, shaking her head. “I had no idea! There wasn’t any inclination as to who it was - I was kinda worried someone crazy got ahold of my number,” she jokes. He chuckles softly and silence shifts over them. “Uh.. so what was that text referring to?”

“You asked me if I missed performing.”

Oh, that’s right. She did ask that, didn’t she? Sakura had never got her answer because of Sasuke walking into the house.

“Then why did you stop?”

“I told you.”

“No, why did you really stop,” she asks again. She thought she might know, but it wasn’t her place to make assumptions. If he wanted to, he would tell her. She isn’t going to force answers out of him especially since she didn’t know him personally to really even have the right to.

Itachi stares at her, trying to get a good look at her face to read her intentions. Sakura shifts on her feet, trying to appear not at all bothered by his intense gaze. When he is about to speak, Sasuke comes running over.

“Why aren’t you ready for school? We were supposed to meet five minutes ago.” Sasuke says, looking her up and down. His eyes darkened. He certainly wouldn’t complain about her wearing that but he knew that other guys wouldn’t mind it either which made his jaw tighten. Locking eyes with his brother, he narrows his eyes but refocuses on Sakura when her eyes go wide and she looks frantic.

“Oh my god!” She shouts quietly, “how did I lose track of the time that badly?!” Sakura quickly makes a break towards her house, waving goodbye and a quick, “I’ll be ready soon!”

Sasuke watches Itachi as she runs off, narrowing his eyes when his brother's gaze isn’t on him.

~ ` ~ ` ~

The ride to the school was quiet, just like how Sakura liked it in the mornings. Luckily, her version of late was still considered early to normal people. She just liked going the extra mile. Besides, it gave her more time with Sasuke. Used to, she would spend this time helping out a teacher, but now she found that she would much rather spend this time snuggled up in her boyfriends truck.

“Why were you talking to my brother this morning?”

“He walked over to me and I was being polite,” she answers and rests her head on his shoulder. The collar of his shirt comes down slightly and Sakura notes what looks like a bruise.

“I can’t believe you got into a fight,” she whispers and goes to touch the bruise but he quickly bats her hand away and recovers it. He huffs, settling her with a glare.

She lifts her hands up in surrender, offering a small smile.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Fall was set in full motion and Sakura was missing the summer.

She sat on her front porch staring wistfully at the beach across the street. It would never be cold enough to snow where she lived, but it still got cold enough where it wasn’t wise to go swimming. This time of year always left a bitterness in her. She just wanted to be gliding through the water and let all of her worries float away.

Sasuke and her had been dating for a couple months now. It was going well, at least, she thought so. They still had some moments where they wouldn’t agree, but didn’t every couple have those moments? These disagreements were special though. It was always something to do with Itachi or her guy friends. Sakura hated it, but she didn’t want to make him feel insecure or like he couldn’t trust her.

Over the course of the months, she had grown kind of close to Itachi. It was mainly over music that they bonded and their share of burdens. It turns out that they both carried a pretty heavy weight on their shoulders to be perfect and the best at what they do. Sakura found a friend and companion in him. She enjoyed his company but only as a friend, she wished Sasuke could understand that.

“Hey, it’s getting cold, why don’t you come inside?” Sakura’s father asks softly, coming to rest a hand on her shoulder.

“Okay,” she smiles and follows him inside. Her mother was on the couch wrapped up in a blanket, ever the dramatic one when it comes to change in temperature. The oil field isn’t very reliable, but it is good money. Sakura’s father had been laid off a week ago and was in pursuit of another rig to work at. Sakura hated that he still felt the need to go off and still work at a job he hates. She knew he did it for them, particularly her, but she also knew she had more than enough in savings and scholarships to cover her schooling. She tried to reason with him, but he never listened.

“I got a call, I have another rig.”

Sakura offers him a smile, coming to sit on the opposite side of him from where he is sitting next to her mother.

“That’s wonderful,” Sakura says and he nods. Her mother doesn’t say anything, she never does. She dislikes it perhaps even more than Sakura does. She might even resent it.

“Shall we watch a movie?” Sakura’s mother instead offers, already scrolling through Netflix.

“As long as it is not a chick flick or something equally cringey,” Sakura’s father says and Sakura rolls her eyes when her mother scoffs. She already knew what they were watching before her mother clicked on it.

~ ` ~ ` ~

It was two days later and Sakura was feeling mopey. She had said goodbye to her father the day prior and as such was left in a funk during school.

“He’ll be back before you know it,” cheered Naruto and Hinata nods as she places a gentle hand on Sakura’s back.

“I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier,” Sakura sighs out and Hinata quickly gives her a hug. She enjoyed the dark haired girls hugs, they were warm and comforting. “By the way, your short hair looks good on you,” Sakura comments and Hinata blushes as she pulls back and fiddles with the ends of her hair that falls to her chin.

“Thank you,” she says softly.

Short hair has always looked good on the girl, Sakura had to admit. The long hair suited her as well but she always thought that shorter hair just shaped her soft, round face in a more pleasing manner.

“Anytime,” Sakura smiles.

“Should I cut my hair?” Ino asks, coming to join them at their table. It was lunch time and Sakura was able to sit down with her friends for once because Sasuke had some business in the library to take care of.

“If that’s what you want-” Hinata starts off but is interrupted by a “hell no” by Sakura and a loud laugh from Naruto. Ino’s eye twitches and she pouts with her arms crossed.

“What, would I not look good?” She cries dramatically and falls into the arms of this weeks fling. Some nameless boy that Sakura is sure would be gone come the weekend. Ino is a lovely girl, but she has a strong personality. The only one who lasted longer than a week was Shikamaru, but truthfully it was because he was just used to her since they grew up together. That’s probably the reason it didn’t work out - they were more like siblings in the end.

“You always look good, babe,” charms the guy and Ino swoons.

Sakura has to stop herself from gagging, but it turns out Naruto has no sense of control.

~ ` ~ ` ~

That night, Sakura found herself gathered around a bon fire with her friends.

The nights air was cool, but she honestly didn’t mind. The warmth from the fire and Sasuke’s arm around her kept her plenty warm. She had a soft smile on her face as she takes in the scene around her. Everyone, including Ten Ten, was there.

“No, you idiot, put it back!” Shouts Kiba as he runs around the beach, kicking up sand, trying to get away from Naruto who had picked up a crab. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but Sakura still watched on with amusement. Kiba, for some reason, is deathly afraid of Crabs. Akamaru, his dog, only whined from his place in Ten Tens lap at his owners expense.

“Traitor! Come help me,” Kiba shouts and Akamaru burrows deeper causing Ten Ten to laugh.

“It just wants a kiss!” Pleads Naruto and Sakura saw the rock before he did. Naruto’s foot gets caught and he is face-planting, essentially letting go of the crab that scurries away and, ironically, is heading Kiba’s direction. He screams and everyone just turns away. He’ll be fine, they all figured.

Naruto got up and dragged himself over to Hinata, collapsing against her.

“The world is so cruel to me,” he pouts and she only presses a soft kiss to his forehead.

“Maybe the world wouldn’t be if you weren’t an idiot,” snorts Sasuke.

Over the course of the months, Sasuke had spent more time with her friends. They weren’t all best of friends by any means, but they got along… for the most part. Despite their bickering, Sasuke and Naruto actually got along pretty well. It turns out their mothers used to be best friends and since the Uchiha’s moved back into town, sundays are spent at one anothers houses. Sakura appreciated the effort, but at times, she didn’t like some of the ways he went about it.

“What was that,” Naruto sits and squints at Sasuke.

“You heard me,” Sasuke smirks and Sakura shifts away from him and closer to Ino.

“Here we go,” Ino says quietly.

“That’s it! You and me, right now,” seethes Naruto as he jumps up to his feet. Sasuke watches him boredly until he eventually stands up as well. “Well?” Naruto shouts.

“Fine.”

Just as they were about to take a step together, Kiba finally rejoined the group with a sleepy looking Shikamaru. Sakura didn’t even notice that he left, but he must have went after Kiba.

“There will be no fights,” yawns out Shikamaru. “It is too late, we will get a noise complaint.”

Naruto crosses his arms, glaring at Sasuke, and Sasuke in turn glares back.

“Whatever. At least my hair doesn’t look like a ducks ass,” mouthes Naruto and those are his famous last words as Sasuke lunges.

Their fights are never serious, but that still doesn’t stop the panic rising in her chest. She watches them roll around in the sand, trying to get a good punch in. She decides that Shikamaru is right, tonight is not the night and that is even further settled when she looks over at a pale Hinata.

“Come on, guys, don’t do this,” she reasons and goes to try and separate them. She hooks her arms underneath Naruto, who was on top, and pulls him away from Sasuke. He’s squirming, still trying to get after him, but Sasuke only looks at hims smuggly. “Knock it off, look at Hinata. You scared her.”

Naruto looks over at her and his face falls, guilt eating away at him.

“Oh no, baby, I’m so sorry,” he cooes as he goes over to her and hugs her close.

Sakura looks away, giving them some privacy.

“And as for you,” she says and narrows her eyes on Sasuke. “You know better than to let yourself get riled up.”

Sasuke huffs, looking away.

“Whatever,” he says and he walks away towards the opposite end of the beach. Sakura frowns, watching him, and shares a look with Ino.

“Go on, we can clean up here,” Ino says and Sakura nods before running after Sasuke.

Catching up to him, she runs and wraps her arms around him from behind. She can feel his body tense beneath her touch, but she could also feel when it relaxed and he realized it was just her.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, I am, too.”

They stand there, neither one breaking apart or saying anything else.

The only noise was the ocean lapping against the nearby rocks and sand, the wind singing its fall song, and the distant chatter of their friends. It was relaxing, but at the same time, it caused a feeling of uncertainty hanging in the air.

After awhile, Sasuke pulls out of her embrace and grasps her hand. He turns around and faces her, using his other hand cupping her face. He stares into her eyes, watching the emotions pass through emerald in a swarm. He loved her eyes and they always made him feel like he’s in a trance. It was this feeling that brought him closer to her, breathing softly against her lips before capturing them in an act of war that he won.

The kiss is tender, but his skin against hers is hot and warm in the cool night wind.

She closes her eyes, melting into his touch, and allowing herself to get lost in the feeling of his lips against hers. It seemed that no matter the situation, a kiss from his was enough to fry her mind. When they pulled apart, she looked up at him with half-lidded eyes and he swooped down to kiss along her jaw and neck. She smiles, pulling him closer to her and allows him to pick her up from her butt, and wraps her legs around his waist.

“Do you dance?” She asked after a couple minutes, pulling away from his kisses, and focusing on the sound of the ocean. He looks at her a little weird, but she only grins. Unwrapping her legs, she kicks off her flip flops and feels the sand in between her toes. She sighs out before letting go of Sasuke and only giving him a coy smile before she is taking off down the beach. Her feet splashing in the waves of water that washes in.

He watches her in disbelief, but he soon gives in and chases after her.

Her laughter is musical and carries into the wind. It fits in the with the waves and Sasuke couldn’t help but admit that she is the very definition of ethereal beauty.

She stops suddenly and allows him to crash into her, lifting her up and spinning her around. She laughs again and holds her arms up as her feet meet the ground and she is bending backwards. The ends of her hair dip into the water and she smiles as she brings her body upward. Her hands come to rest against either side of his face and she presses a chaste kiss on his lips before she pulls away.

The water drips from the ends of her strands and leaves a trail down her neck that Sasuke picks up on but is unable to act upon as she holds her hand out, palm open. She looks away briefly before mumbling “fuck it” and pulling Sasuke close, bringing up one leg higher than the other. Sasuke quickly holds onto it so she doesn’t fall and Sakura puts more of her weight into leaning against him. Just as it seems they are about to fall, she rips away and spins out of his grasp. She laughs at the face he makes, but continues to spin out of his grasp everytime he comes to reach for her.

It was a dance and Sakura secretly loved to dance.

After awhile, Sakura finally lets him catch her. He wraps his arms around her from behind as she sways side to side. Her eyes are closed as she listens to the gentle waves and she relaxes into his kisses against her neck. She tilts her head further, resting against his shoulder.

“I love you,” she breathes out softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts!
> 
> I also have a playlist on Spotify that I listen to while writing this story if anyone is ever interested in listening to it!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for all of the kudos, subscriptions, and so on and so forth! I really appreciate it. As we dive deeper into the story, I am getting more and more excited about future events. Pretty soon we will be out of the high school era and I just can't wait!

“I love you,” she breathes out softly and returns the kiss that is pressed to her lips.

Slowly, she turns around to face him and stares up at him. The moonlight catches her hair - illuminating it and making it seem like a halo. She looked like an angel and perhaps Sasuke wasn’t the most religious man, but Sakura was the one divine entity that he would pour himself into whole-heartedly.

The waves crashed against a section of big rocks nearby and Sasuke looks over there from the corner of his eye, noting that it is secluded and hidden from all but the moon and the vast sea. Smirking, he presses a gentle kiss to her forehead and trails kisses down her face until he gets to her jaw. He slowly starts guiding her by her hands, walking backward, towards the group of big rocks.

“Where are we going?” She gasps out in between kisses that littered her face and captured her lips. Her eyes were closed and she was just relishing the feeling of having him there with her.

“Just here. Keep your eyes closed and hang tight,” Sasuke answers and Sakura notes, disappointedly, that he has released his hold of her hands after giving her one last kiss.

She could hear him walking around in the sand and could hear the rustling of something, but before she could get caught up in listening to him she was enraptured with the sea. The sounds of the waves were so near and she just knew that the sky looked beautiful. She debated just peeking, but before she could follow through, Sasuke was taking her hands again.

“Open your eyes.”

And she did.

“Oh my god..” Sakura breathes out.

Before her was Sasuke’s shirt laid out in the sand - not in the way of the tides but also still hidden by rocks - and there was also a pile of seashells and clams littered around his shirt. It was beautiful and she couldn’t help the smile that took over her face. He took the time to display this for her and she couldn’t think of a better way to say that she loved it other than turning towards him and grabbing his face, pulling him towards her so that she could lay a passionate kiss on him.

“Do you like it?” He asks, pulling away to rest his forehead against hers.

“Of course.”

What happened next was a blur. His touches were gentle and his kisses were intoxicating. He had pulled her towards him and the next thing she knew, she was on her back and on top of his shirt. Her hair fanned out around her head, but he still gently brushed away her bangs from her face when they got stuck. He nips at her neck, hiking her leg up and slowly removing her shorts. She watches him, a little bit of anxiousness showing, and he smiles at her.

“Relax. No one is going to see us.”

Sakura nods and returns the kiss he gives her gently as he moves to tower over her. Chewing on her lip as he pulls away, her eyes close as soon as he is closer to her than ever.

Breathing out softly, Sakura’s head rolls to the side to look out on the water. She smiles to herself, her fingers gently playing with Sasuke’s hair as he rests against her while looking at his phone. Her eyes took in the beautiful setting of the moon and the stars in the sky reflecting in the water. She felt at peace. She wished she could stay here together.

~ ` ~ ` ~

“You’re just upset because I’m better than you,” says Sakura as she sticks out her tongue.

Itachi rolls his eyes, setting down his controller, but there was a small smile hidden on his face. Currently, Sakura and Itachi are playing Mario Kart while Sasuke is off in town picking up something. This was a normal occurrence whenever Sasuke left Sakura to her own devices at his house. If Itachi wasn’t accompanying her, then Mikoto was, and Sakura honestly couldn’t think of better company. She loved the Uchiha family very much - even though Fugaku could have a giant stick in his ass.

“Care for a rematch?”

“You’re on!”

Sakura stares at the screen, her mouth slightly open. She looks at Itachi and then back to the screen with utter disbelief on her face.

“You cheated!” She cries out as they watch the reels and Itachi shakes his head.

“Using a blue shell is not cheating.”

“Yes, it is!”

“All is fair in Mario Kart.. isn’t that what you said in the previous match?” Itachi chuckles out and Sakura only huffs, crossing her arms. The ringing of her phone catches her attention and she quickly answers it. She mouths a ‘sorry’ to Itachi who only nods.

“What? Is he okay?”

Itachi looks at her with concern before she mumbles out an ‘okay’ and ‘I’ll be right there.’

“I have to go... Can you let Sasuke know that I will talk to him tomorrow?”

“Of course... Just be careful.”

Nodding, Sakura gives him a small grim smile before she is hurrying out of the house and rushing down the street to her house.

Throwing open the house door, she quickly grabs the keys to her car. Hurrying outside, she opens the car door to her little yellow bug and starts the car. Taking in a deep breath, she backs out of the driveway and starts down the road. The palm trees, houses, and the ocean become distant in her rear-view mirror as she heads into the city. The sky was slowly darkening and the stars came out to replace the clouds. Sakura wished she could appreciate the sky, but she knew that now was not the time to stop and stargaze. She had something more important on her mind.

Pulling into the hospital, she quickly parks her car and is running towards the emergency room. Scanning the lobby, Sakura spots a mop of red hair and black hair. Her heart plummets when she doesn’t see familiar blond. Quickly making her way over to them, she gently touches the shoulder of Hinata and the red-haired woman.

“What happened?” Sakura asks once they realize it’s her.

“You know Naruto,” sniffs the redhead, Kushina who is his mother, “he got too ahead of himself today. All the warning we had was, was..” She stops and takes a deep breath. “All the warning we had was: hey ma, watch this! And then... Then he had an accident with the four-wheeler. He was trying to jump one of the hills at his Uncle’s while standing, but the hill gave away to a steep drop-off at the edge of the property near the fence line. He rolled into the fence and the four-wheeler didn’t stop.”

Sakura shook her head, gently offering a hug to both Hinata and Kushina.

“He’ll be okay, I’m sure of it.”

~ ` ~ ` ~

“You should have been paying better attention, you idiot," Sakura growls out as she glares at Naruto from where he was propped up on his bed. His left leg and arm were broken from the landing, but other than that his ribs were bruised and he had some cuts and bruises from the impact of the four-wheeler running into him. It hurt, surely, but he would live and he would have some memories from it to remind him to be cautious. Hopefully.

“You had me scared,” Sakura grouches as she pulls him into a careful hug. She was upset, but overall she was more worried than anything. She had been in the emergency room many times because of Naruto and each time, it scared the daylights out of her. Thankfully it was never life-threatening. She had no idea what she would do without him.

“I know, I know.. I’m sorry,” Naruto mumbles out from her shoulder. “I won’t do it again.”

“You better not,” Hinata says softly as she re-enters the room with a bowl of ramen. Sakura could practically see the drool without even looking at Naruto. Honestly, he was ridiculous when it came to ramen.

“Yes, ma’am,” Naruto mock salutes and graciously accepts the food as Hinata settles down next to him to help him in case the bowl started tipping over. Watching them, Sakura couldn’t help but smile. They were perfect together.

“I’m going to go ahead and leave. I’ll be back with this week’s schoolwork. Thankfully Thanksgiving break is this week.. So you only have one week of school work to do,” Sakura says as she gets up to leave. “You better be careful.”

“Of course, I always am.”

Sakura rolls her eyes before looking pointedly at the two casts adorning the body of the blond. Hinata giggles before giving Sakura a sweet smile.

“Be safe,” Hinata says softly and Sakura nods before leaving.

~ ` ~ ` ~

Sitting on the bench, Sakura lets out a soft sigh.

She gazes at the sea with a look of adoration and longing. She couldn’t wait for it to warm up again, but at the same time, she could. By the time the summer came, she would have been graduated and starting her schooling for her career. She wasn’t sure if she was ready, but she was going to have to be. Not just for herself but for her family, too. She had to make sure that she succeeded.

“Hey.”

Looking away from the water, Sakura squints in the direction of the voice. The sun was behind him but Sakura could make out Sasuke’s figure as he comes to stand by the bench. His hair was messed up and the darkness under his eyes was noticeable. He must have been cold as he wore a long-sleeve turtleneck.

“Hey.. Sorry for leaving so abruptly yesterday. I was going to wait for you to get back but..”

“But?”

“But Naruto’s mom called me and said that Naruto was in the emergency room,” she finishes and Sasuke just nods as he comes to sit down next to her.

“My mother is going over there right now with dinner,” Sasuke says and Sakura nods. She knew that Mikoto couldn’t help but want to help, even the tiniest bit, her best friend out. Knowing Naruto and Kushina, she was sure that the latter would be babying the blond and he would be milking it as much as he could. After all, he was their only child and they were absolutely blessed to have them. Being able to have Naruto was a miracle to them.

“He’s okay,” Sakura says and leans her head against his shoulder.

“I know.”

They sit there and stare out at the water. The tides come in gently and Sakura closes her eyes, resting against him. She didn’t get very much sleep the night prior. Silence washes over them and it was nice. The wind blows through their hair gently and Sakura thinks back to Hinata and Naruto on his tiny bed.

When people look at her and Sasuke.. Do they think that they are perfect together, too?

~ ` ~ ` ~

Faire season was upon them and Sakura was more than ready for it.

She loved going to the fair and she was looking forward to experiencing it with Sasuke and her other friends. Usually, she and Ino would act as dates since everyone in her friend group seemed to have one. This year, though, she had Sasuke and it made her giddy the night before the first day.

“What are you so excited about?” Sasuke asks, looking up from his phone, at Sakura who was perched on the windowsill of her room.

“The fair is tomorrow.” She answers, turning away from looking out the window, and settling her gaze on him. “My friends and I always go.”

“Ah,” he says and looks back at his phone. Sakura’s heart drops a little, her smile dropping down. She looks down slightly, deciding that the little chip in the paint of her window sill was more interesting.

“Do you not like the fair?” She asks after a while.

“It’s okay.”

She nods though he can’t see it and brings her knees up to rest her head on it. She supposed one more year just her and her friends wouldn’t be so bad.

~ ` ~ ` ~

“Are you ready yet?!” Hollers Ino as she busts into Sakura’s room. Her blue eyes take in the decidedly less excited state of her best friend and her eyes narrow.

“What did he do,” she demands and Sakura only sighs.

“It’s not what he did, he didn’t do anything,” Sakura answers as she finishes rummaging through her closet and decides on a soft candy-apple dress with spaghetti straps. She slips it on over her white long-sleeve turtleneck and wiggles her way into leggings and ankle boots.

“He’s not coming,” Ino states, and Sakura only nods. Sighing, Ino wraps her arm around her. “Come on, we can have fun without him. We did pretty well up until now without him anyway,” Ino gives her a smile and Sakura returns it.

~ ` ~ ` ~

The fair was packed. Kids, adults, couples, and friends were running around together. The stars lit up the sky as the stalls lit up their lights down the different alleys of vendors, games, and activities. The excitement was budding in Sakura’s heart and she looked at Ino with joy on her face. Despite this being the last year that they would most likely be able to enjoy this together until many years later, they wouldn’t let the daunting future get to them.

They go through several stalls, all of them laughing and giggling together. Even Naruto was there and for that, Sakura was grateful. She was glad that he was able to get out about with them despite his temporary wheel-chair. 

“No, don’t do that!” Sakura laughs out as Naruto balances his corn-dog on his nose. They all knew that it would fall and it was no surprise when it started to tip and Naruto scrambled to get it before it fell in the dirt. He wasn’t so lucky, but Hinata graciously offered her corndog to him. They were cute and it made Sakura’s heart squeeze a little uncomfortably when she thought back to Sasuke. She wished he was here with her.

“Hey forehead, I bet that I can make more of these balls into the fish bowls than you!” Sing-songs Ino as she tugs Sakura into the direction of the vendor. Sakura laughs before playfully elbowing her.

“You’re on!”

Sakura narrowly loses to Ino, but she doesn’t mind. They carry on playing pointless games like that together. The night continues to wear on, but Sakura doesn’t think about Sasuke for much of it. She is too busy enjoying the dumb antics her friends get into like Kiba accidentally knocking into Mr. Hatake and Mr. Guy on their “friendly outing” at the fair and Naruto hiding from his parents because he forgot to ask them permission before leaving. It was all in good fun and Sakura wouldn’t trade it all for the world.

Currently, she was in line for the ferris wheel. She watches the line get shorter and shorter, excitement filling her as she gets closer to the front of the line. The view at the very top of the ferris Wheel was immaculate. She could see everything from there: the city, the beach, her house and the ocean.. It was breathtaking.

“Ugh, I have to pee,” whines Ino and Sakura rolls her eyes.

“You always have to go! Can’t you hold it? It’ll be our turn in no time,” Sakura groans out and Ino shakes her head no with pleading eyes. “Fine! Go, be quick.”

“Of course! I’ll be right back,” Ino screeches as she runs off. Sakura only rolls her eyes but her attention is caught off guard when she spots someone she didn’t expect to see there.

“Itachi?” She questions and the tall male turns, locking eyes with her. With him, she could see Sasori, Deidara, and a couple others that were once band members as well. Sakura was glad that he still hung out with them regularly. He mumbles something to them and Deidara looks over at Sakura knowingly before carrying on with the rest of the group while Itachi heads towards her.

“Hey,” he greets as he stops in front of her.

“Hi,” she answers smally as she looks up at him. “I didn’t know you liked to go to the fair,” she says and he just shrugs.

“My friends wanted to go and I had nothing better to do,” Itachi supplies and Sakura nods. She figured as much. She wanted to ask about Sasuke, but she knew better.

“Are you enjoying it?” Sakura settles for instead and Itachi smiles a little.

“It isn’t terrible, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Sakura laughs and they continue to chat as the line moves along. The conversation between them flowed so casually and smoothly, Sakura was glad that she had caught him when she saw him in the crowd. She always felt so care-free around him. She didn’t feel the need to front around him, she could let her walls down. She was grateful to get to know someone who was like her.

“Miss, sir? Can you please either step out of the line or board the ferris wheel?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sakura mumbles as she realizes that they were now in front of the line. She had got so caught up in talking with him that she hadn’t even realized that it was her turn to get on. Looking at him and then around the area, she couldn’t find Ino. Chewing on her lip, she didn’t know what to do. She was holding up the line, but she didn’t want to get on by herself. The passenger cart in front of them was ready to be entered and in a way it taunted her.

“Do you mind if I join you?”

Sakura blinks, processing what he just asked and it takes a moment for it to sink in. She is caught off guard but the reassuring expression in his eyes assures her that he saw the anxiety in her face. She gives him a smile before stepping inside the cart with the help of the person in charge of the wheel.

“Sure,” she says and gestures for him to follow.

They settle in nicely and patiently wait as others get in their carts and the wheel to actually start.

“Thank you.. My friend Ino was supposed to join me, but she hasn’t made it back from the bathroom just yet.”

“It isn’t a problem. The lines to the bathroom was quite long, I’m sure she is just caught up there or found someone she knew,” Itachi says quietly.

“Probably. Knowing her, she’s fixing up her makeup while she’s in there, too,” she laughs out while Itachi chuckles.

Silence falls over them and Sakura couldn’t help but smile. They were nearing the top of the ferris wheel and she was excited to see everything. As it came to a stop, a gasp leaves her as she takes it all in.

The stars twinkled in the distance and the full moon was high in the sky. In the distance, Sakura could spot the ocean glistening underneath the night sky and the city lights looking like little strips of stars on land. Peace was settling inside of her and all of her constant worries have been lifted. Sighing, she relaxes more into the seat.

As it starts moving again, Sakura breathes out, “Isn’t it beautiful?” as she turns around to focus on Itachi again. She had almost forgotten that he was there because of how quiet he had been.

“It is,” he says softly and she makes eye contact with him. She takes in the look on his face and she couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but something felt.. Different. Thinking nothing of it, she smiles.

“I’m glad we could agree on that.”

As the ferris wheel came to a stop, Sakura slowly gets out and turns around to Itachi.

“Thank you for accompanying me. I should probably go find Ino,” Sakura says.

“It was my pleasure. I’ll help you, she’s the loud blonde one, right?” Itachi asks and Sakura laughs before nodding.

“Yes, that would be her.”

They walk down the aisles together, chit chatting, and enjoying each others company as they search for Ino. Hearing loud obnoxious laughter, Sakura’s ears tune into a table off to the side where Naruto was seated with Hinata, Kiba, Ino, and.. Sasuke.

“Oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you,” Sakura says as they head towards the table. “Why didn’t you come get me when you were done?” She asks, looking at Ino with pointed eyes and completely ignoring Sasuke who was shooting narrowed looks at her and Itachi.

“I did, but you were already on the ferris wheel. I sent you a text,” Ino says and shrugs. Sakura lets out a sigh, checking her phone to see that she did, indeed, send her a text.

“I best be on my way, I’ll see you around, Sakura,” Itachi says and Sakura gives him a smile in parting.

“See you around and hey!” She calls out as she gets further away. She waits for him to turn around before continuing. “Thanks for going on the ferris wheel with me, it was fun!”

Itachi only offers a smile before disappearing into the crowd.

Sakura smiles, watching him go, before turning around towards her friends and Sasuke once more. She could see the displeased look on his face, but she didn’t care. Itachi was her friend, she had every right to spend time with him if she wanted to. Besides, she would have gone on the ferris wheel if Ino or Sasuke if either of them had been there.

“It’s getting late, I think some of us are about ready to head out. Do you need a ride home Sakura?” Ino asks as she, Naruto, Kiba, and Ino get ready to leave.

“I’ll take her home,” Sasuke cuts in and Sakura has to stop from rolling her eyes but she didn’t have to because Ino rolled her eyes enough for the both of them.

“Well, be careful, okay?”

“Will do.” Sakura gives each of her friends a hug and watches them leave. After they are long gone, the sounds of the fair is the only sound around them as they stare at each other. Sakura was upset and she had every right to be, but she didn’t quite understand why Sasuke was upset with her.

“Lets go,” he mumbles and roughly wraps his arm around her as he starts leading her out of the fair. She pushes away from him slightly and walks a little to the side of him. She misses the tightening of his jaw in favor of focusing on the path in front of them. They remain quiet all the way to his truck and even once they are inside. They sit there for a moment, not saying anything. Sakura breaks the silence first.

“I thought you weren’t coming.”

“I changed my mind,” he grunts. “I thought that you weren’t interested in my brother,” he glares at her.

“I’m not,” Sakura says firmly. Sasuke starts the engine, quickly pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road. Sakura subconsciously held onto the door, feeling a little nervous. Sasuke wasn’t the best of drivers when he was in a mood.

“Then why did you go on the damn ferris wheel with him,” he finally says and she could feel the anger coming off of him in waves.

“Because he is my friend-”

“He has no friends, Sakura.” He interrupts her as they pull into her driveway. “Can’t you see? He hates me and is wanting to do what he can to get under my skin. He is using you.”

Sakura couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew Sasuke was jealous and that he got into his head a lot. It was particularly bad when it came to his brother and this wasn’t so much as about her. From her understanding, jealousy towards Itachi had been an ongoing thing since he was twelve.

“Sasuke, you can’t be serious. He wouldn’t do that-”

“You don’t know him!” He yells, hitting his fist against his air vent in his truck. “I’ve lived with him, he is my brother!”

Sakura’s heartbeat picks up and she fumbles with the door handle but the door locks. She could feel the anxiety building up in her chest as she takes in the very apparent anger that Sasuke is exhibiting. The broken airvent is evident of it, but as if that wasn’t evident enough, he lets out a frustrated yell before running his hands through his hair roughly and lightly tugging at the strands.

“Just stop it,” he says after a moment.

“Stop what?” She asks softly and he slowly turns to look at her.

“Stop getting involved with him. He isn’t worth it,” Sasuke says as he leans forward and presses a gentle kiss to her forehead. She slowly nods, ignoring the thrumming in her chest. The usual butterflies were now a swarm of bees that couldn’t escape and it stung.

“Come on, my parents aren’t home. You can stay the night with me.”

“Okay..”

As they pull out of Sakura’s driveway, she shoots her mom a text per Sasuke’s instruction to let her know that she will be staying at Ino’s tonight. Sakura felt terrified for lying to her, but she didn’t feel like she had a choice.

Once they arrive at Sasuke’s house, he finally unlocks the door and hurries around to her side to lift her up out of the truck much like he did the first time she had spent the night.

“You look beautiful tonight,” he murmurs as he carries her inside the house and up the stairs to his room. Sakura mumbles out a soft ‘Thank you’ as he gently lays her against the smooth blankets of his bed. His gentle touches are such a contrast to his earlier behavior that Sakura didn’t know what to think as he starts kissing on her neck and down her collarbones after he removes her dress and turtleneck. She didn’t know what to think as his hand entwined with her as his body became one with hers.

And she didn’t really know what to think when instead of feeling happy and fulfilled after being joined together, she cried instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave Kudos and be sure to comment what you think!


End file.
